Arriving seven years after the Something for Kate front man's acclaimed solo debut, 2009's top five ARIA charts success Everything Is True, Strange Loop is freewheeling in form but precisely executed; it's a record that knows what it wants to say, what it needs to be - 11 tracks that enclose sneaky dry wit, the irregularity of the everyday, and the pathos of longing in a mix of magic hour melodies, striking instrumentation, and tenderly charged vocals.
"With every new song and each new record you just hope to chisel everything a little cleaner than last time, paint the scenery in more precise detail and give some extra dimensions to the stories and also to have as much fun as possible creating all the accompanying noise. I feel completely satisfied that I've done that with this record.” says Dempsey of the new LP.
Beginning with the evocative, scene-setting opener The True Sea, a quicksilver seven minute arc that equally spans both the vastness of the universe and the intimacy of the bond between two people, Strange Loop is the sound of expanding musical horizons: of guitarmonies colliding with baritone sax; relentlessly driving rhythms and pianos being pounded; whispered vocals and reckless yelps; abandonment and containment; Queen and Kraftwerk; a room full of guitars and a notepad full ideas.
Strange Loop reveals a super-charged Dempsey; his voice more potent and powerful than ever, his stories and characters magnified, his instrumentation more adventurous and playful.