Strange Talk

Australia’s Strange Talk make emotive indie-electronic pop that draws upon both ’80s new wave and contemporary dance production influences. Buoyed by a series of buzzed-about singles, the group hit the Australia pop charts with their 2013 debut Cast Away. Following a 2015 EP, they released their sophomore full-length, Speech Therapy, in 2021. Initially formed as a bedroom recording project by singer/keyboardist Stephen Docker and producer/DJ/bassist Gerard Sidhu, Melbourne, Australia’s Strange Talk eventually evolved into a full band by adding guitarist Gillan Gregory and drummer Travis Constable to the lineup. With an electro-pop sound that has been likened to artists Passion Pit, Phoenix, and Cut Copy, Strange Talk first came into the public eye in 2010 when they were a featured artist in a competition held by Australia’s popular Triple J radio station. They followed up with their debut self-titled EP in April 2011, and later that year rose to number one on Billboard’s newly established Uncharted chart thanks to the popularity of their singles “Eskimo Boy” and “Climbing Walls.” After several successful national tours and festival appearances, the bandmembers sequestered themselves at a farm a couple hours outside of Melbourne to write and record material for their first album. By the spring of 2012, Strange Talk had finished recording and enlisted Tony Hoffer (Beck, Phoenix, M83) to mix their debut. The resulting album, Cast Away, was released in February 2013 by Sony Music Australia and reached number 56 on the Australian charts. Later that year the band signed with Wind-Up Entertainment, which released Cast Away worldwide in the spring of 2014. In 2015, Strange Talk, now down again to the duo of Docker and Sidhu, delivered the five-song EP E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. A full-length, Speech Therapy, arrived in September 2021. ~ Matt Collar & Timothy Monger