Bartees Strange - Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy

Bartees Strange has been one of the most significant indie artists to break out in the post-Pandemic era. His 2020 album, Mustang, was named to countless year-end best lists. He quickly signed to 4AD and his debut for the label Farm To Table turned him into a club headliner and an arena-sized opening act with genre-defining artists such as The National, boygenius, Phoebe Bridgers and Courtney Barnett.

Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy is where Bartees’ story began - a full-length cover album of songs by indie rock kingmakers The National. Quietly released in March 2020 - the day before lockdowns shut the world down - it instantly sold out its 300-copy pressing. Now back in print to celebrate his explosive trajectory and a run of dates opening for The National at arenas across Europe in Autumn, 2023.

A kind of fairy tale story of independent community and the effort to diversify what the term ‘indie rock’ even means, reclaiming the phrase for Black artists. ‘Say Goodbye’ also happens to touch upon Bartees’ incredibly broad palette of musical influences, with a sound ranging from garage rock (‘Mr. November’) to emotional R&B chill (‘About Today’ and ‘The Geese of Beverly Road’) to house music (‘Looking for Astronauts’). Members of The National have called Bartees’ hard riffing, emo-pop-rock rendition of ‘Lemonworld’ the definitive version of the song.

For fans of L’Rain, The National, Kara Jackson, boygenius, The Beths, TV on the Radio, Alvvays.