Kevin Bronson on May 5th, 2022

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Creeping dread meets sensuality by candlelight in the video for “Bag of Blood,” the second single from L.A. quartet Strange Parade’s sophomore album, “The Watchers.”

The song, driven by layers of piano and synth courtesy of frontman Brian Cleary and drummer Dan Allaire’s urgent pounding, tells the story of a man who “spills his guts” to a friend in confidence and then worries he has divulged too much. In the video directed by Sarah Bitely, that paranoia plays out in visions of a chemically fueled sleepover during which she shares the gossip with a friend. Blood is spilled. The band plays on.

“Bag of Blood” sounds something that would have seeped out of the dark corners early in the new wave era, foreboding yet catchy. It is but one musical variant on “The Watchers” from a band whose members — Cleary, Allaire, guitarist (and lap steel player) Paul Lacques and bassist Ashley Berry — count past associations with groups such as the Movies, Radar Brothers, Brian Jonestown Massacre and I See Hawks in LA.

“The Watchers” is out on Friday, and the quartet celebrates the release on Saturday night with a show at the Silverlake Lounge.

||| Watch: The video for “Bag of Blood”

||| Live: Strange Parade celebrate their album release with a show Saturday night at the Silverlake Lounge, joined by Purple Witch of Culver and Happy Hollows. Tickets.

||| Previously: “The Watchers,” “Between Us All”