_{By Owen Ferguson}

This record tells the story of love. Not the warm love you think of when you see Mom and Dad holding hands by the fireplace, but a hot love that sprints, jumps, and falls into your arms when you weren’t at all expecting it. You have no idea what’s really going on, or if that love will last half a century or half a day, but you don’t really care because you’re 23 and nothing truly matters yet anyway.

The Strike are a band formed in our beloved home of Provo, and exported out to the music capital of the west, Los Angeles. They put together their musical abilities and released The Lost Years in October 2022. With six members, it’s no surprise that their sound is intricate, showcasing mastery of their respective instruments and their melodic abilities. And with a couple performance residencies now in their back pocket, it’s no surprise that their live performances are precise, captivating, and not at all worth missing. 

This band is like the culmination of all your favorite 80s bands’ musical sounds, with production techniques time-traveled to the 2020s and a clean, warm tenor soaring through it all. The Strike have a distinctly modern pop sound, but they shade this pop with great skill in their respective instruments. Infectious guitar grooves, a driving bright piano, electrifying saxophone lines, and punchy kick and snare drums are characteristic of this record. The frontman, Chris Crabb, sings of the experiences of being a young man finding himself, and attempting to find out what love really is. The Lost Years is not a record you want to pass over.

However, if you initially only have the time for a couple tracks, you don’t have to look any further than the 2nd and 3rd song of the record, “Nothing New” and “Miles Ahead.”

“Miles Ahead” starts with a piano line that throws you back into 1980s America, and the guitar lines throughout the track make you do a double take with your ears. With lyrics like “I’ve heard looks can kill,” “Running reds like green,” and “When the night is over and you’ve got nowhere to go,” Crabb really throws you back into your life as a 16-17 year old: your first real experiences with the opposite sex, a newly found freedom and disregard for the rules, but at the same time no real direction on where to go with life quite yet. You just live. 

“Nothing New” is a story of playful deception. It’s introduced by a catchy horn section, which gets you excited for a verse of driving synth bass and nostalgic vocals. The playful deception in question is one of façades and innocent faces. I’ll let you listen to the song in order to find out more, but I’ll say that a girl wearing a “black dress and Sunday shoes” doesn’t always act the way you think she will. The end of the song features a saxophone solo, trading into a guitar solo, and slowly fading out. It really is amazing work. 

The album closes on a maturing note, in contrast to the youthful attitude of the rest of the record, with “In This Time Apart.” 

The chorus:

Only the foolish show their cards, but I can’t hold on 
I’ve been lost in this time apart
And I say that it’s been hard, since you’ve been gone
I’ve been lost in this time apart
I’ve learned that I need you 

The song tells of regret and longing, with hope that things might just work out again in the future. What a way to close a record. 

My only critique of this album is rather a critique of the band itself. They have an amazing sound, and their singles and big songs should and probably will stay in this niche, because they kill it. But maybe they should include something with a drastically different style in their discography for the diehard fans. A piano ballad with an intervallic sax solo, or a song that takes inspiration from the blues rock side of 80s music with the synths turned down and the guitar overdrive turned up. But of course, The Strike’s sound is their sound, and I don’t think anyone will ever tire of their magnetic bass grooves driving their songs into funk/pop-rock territory. 

If you’re into the type of sound on play by the 1975, Nightly, or Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm, The Strike is a band you cannot miss. They are a huge musical win for Provo.

“Make sure to follow The Strike on Instagram. You can listen to “Nothing New” below!