Straylove
Independent

Psychedelic rock isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the brand promoted by Melbourne’s Straylove is well worth a listen to over a cold beer on a summer afternoon.
Straylove

Straylove

Comprised of brothers Delaney and Harley Stewart (originally from De Ja Groove) and Mitch Yeo, Straylove formed towards the end of 2008 and has been doing the rounds of the Melbourne pub circuit, kicking off the New Year with a weekly gig at The Evelyn.

Most psychedelic rock I’ve heard is typified by long, freeform jam sessions by self-indulgent performers more concerned about getting lost in their own experience than keeping the crowd happy – I’ve never been a huge fan of the genre. So it came as a nice surprise to hear Straylove break out of this stereotype, a few of the songs having an edgier feel with a lot more emotion packed into the vocals. Check out ‘Crawl Over Me’ and ‘Need You Tonight’ to get an idea. This is certainly a good thing for a genre that often lulls punters into a head nodding stupor, when what they really need is a shake and some loud vocals every now and then to remind them that they’re still alive.

The band’s influences are clear to see through a number of tracks, with ‘Sunday Glory’ having definite tones of The Kinks running through it, to the extent that parts of it sound like a karaoke version of ‘You Really Got Me’, while other tracks have a lot more of a rock/groove feel to them.

Straylove could definitely do a bit more work across the range of their vocals though, with a couple of tracks sounding as though echo effects have been applied in a rush across the entire song rather than taking the time to apply the effect more selectively for a better result. That said, for newly formed outfit the sound does come off pretty decent.

While I’m not about to rush off to every pysch-rock performance on offer in this wide city, it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing to have more bands like this playing in the background while you relax over an afternoon beer this summer. So I’d recommend seeing Straylove before autumn sinks its cold claws back into this city and you find yourself watching these guys in a dingy pub nodding your head along with all the other depressed punters.

You can check out Straylove online at both Facebook and Myspace or catch them live every Wednesday during January at The Evelyn, 351 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, from 8pm.