Stream: War Strings, ‘Surreal’

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War Strings

War Strings is the latest project of St. Louis native Andrew Stogel, who previously fronted Dreamers Dose and LOVEYOU. Working from a palate of neo-shoegaze and ’90s indie-rock, Stoegl crafted the poignant album “Who Cares How It Ends” (“Archer” stopped us in our tracks), released in 2020.

Now he’s back, staring down his dark side, in the War Strings follow-up, “Prelude to Nothing.” Themes of addiction, heartbreak and isolation dominate as Stogel dials back some of the noise on “Who Cares” in favor of I-think-I’m-floating atmospherics. His lyrical scalpel remains sharp.

“Tonight my heart is your flower / I bear a billowing spirit / Caressed into / the dim, odd hours / Tomorrow to fall apart / Don’t do this,” he sings delicately on the teaser single, “Surreal.” The song’s pain, though amorphous, is real.

“These songs are amplified versions of narrowed feelings or ideas,” Stogel says of the album, a fully DIY project. “I wanted to let the lyrics be as untempered, or dramatic, as I’d let myself at the time.

“For the most part, this music was written at the height of my seclusion in 2020. [‘Surreal’ and ‘They Must Want Blood’] in particular express that confused, naive, wounded feeling concerning lost loves.”

||| Stream: “Surreal”

||| Previously: “Archer” / “Seventeen”