Bartees Strange released an album called Horror on Valentine’s Day. “Yeah, I just don't like Valentine's Day that much,” he says. “I never really did.”

That, and Strange also says the album’s title is a direct reference to the things he’d been working through. While on tour in support of the album, Bartees Strange visited The Current to play solo acoustic versions of songs from Horror. Afterwards, Strange sat down for an interview with The Current’s Nilufer Arsala, where he described working with Jack Antonoff on the new record.

Later in the interview, Nilufer and Bartees connect over their shared Oklahoma roots, and Strange describes how everything he does is shaped by the Oklahoma experiences that shaped him.

Watch and listen to the music performances in the video player above, and watch the interview in the player below. Beneath the interview video, find a full transcript of Bartees’ and Nil’s conversation.

Interview Transcript

Nilufer Arsala: This is The Current. I'm Nilufer Arsala, and I'm joined in studio today by Bartees Strange. Bartees, thank you for coming to The Current today.

Bartees Strange: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Nilufer Arsala: So the last time I saw you, it was couple years ago, 2022-ish, and you were touring after Farm to Table was released, right? And I think it was in Dallas. You've done a whole bunch of stuff since then, though, so I'm just gonna rattle off some stuff: You did a Tiny Desk. You were on your first magazine cover for Under The Radar. You've been on late-night TV. You opened up for TV on the Radio, and you called them your musical heroes. And you released your new album, Horror. That is a lot of stuff.

Bartees Strange: Yeah, yeah. It's been a busy...

Nilufer Arsala: It really has been busy. So I want to talk about the new album, Horror, because it's more about internal struggles you go through, rather than being scared of outside influences. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Bartees Strange: Yeah. I mean, I feel like, as I've gotten older, the things that tend to run my day and define my existence are these things that have always been there that I keep having to face over and over again. And it's interesting, because you start to see how, like, an unsolved thing within yourself can manifest itself over and over again, over time, and you hit a point in your life where you're like, OK, like, am I gonna like deal with this stuff? Or am I just gonna, like, become what the fear is turning me into?

Nilufer Arsala: Right.

Bartees Strange: And it also helped me kind of understand why so many people are, like, mean or selfish or, you know, or like, hateful in their old age. It's like, "Oh, they probably just didn't deal with some stuff they should have dealt with a long time ago," you know? Like, they've been shaped by this, you know? And so, yeah, that's kind of what the record became about. And I didn't realize that's what it was going to be about when I first started writing it. I just was like, oh, these are, like, normally not as open-faced, like in a song, but these became just, like, pretty honest pictures of things I go through.

Nilufer Arsala: But you were working on it at the same time you were working on your last album, Farm to Table.

Bartees Strange: Yeah, I started them, like, on the same day.

Nilufer Arsala: Wow.

Bartees Strange: And I didn't know. I just was writing songs. You know, I was just recording and had all these ideas, but I realized pretty quickly, I was like, OK, five or six of these are, like, going somewhere else, and I don't really want to go there right now! 

Nilufer Arsala: That's a good way to put it, for sure!

Bartees Strange: And that's how it got the name Horror. Like, that was, like, code name: Horror, like, in my notebook. And then I did Farm to Table because it was easy. Well, it felt easy.

Nilufer Arsala: Like it just came out easier?

Bartees Strange: Yeah. I was like, "This is nice." It's like, light, you know? Horror felt a little more, like, in your face, kinda. And I was like, "I'm not ready to face that right now."

Nilufer Arsala: So how much longer did it take you to actually finish that one up?

Bartees Strange: Well, I turned in Farm to Table, and then I went on tour. And then after I got home from tour, I was like, OK, let me get back into these songs. And that kind of started, like a two-ish year process of me, just like, working on them, and about a year-and-a-half into it, I was at a festival, and I met Jack [Antonoff], and you know, we just kind of hit it off, just talking about music and stuff. And he invited me over to his house. And at that time, I was like, "I think I just finished a record. Like, it's pretty good." And he was like, "Oh, me too. I'll show you mine." I was like, "Cool." So we just kind of swapped music, and I thought it was done. And then he was like, "Well, you could turn this in tomorrow, but I have some thoughts, maybe we could try some things?" So I was like, "Dude, yeah, of course. 

Nilufer Arsala: And you're talking about Jack Antonoff.

Bartees Strange: Yes! 

Nilufer Arsala: ... who you know, helped you produce the record.

Bartees Strange: Yeah.

Nilufer Arsala: And after working with him, like, did it just — was it fast?

Bartees Strange: Well, it took like, four or five of the songs, like, up a notch, and I was like, "OK, cool. This is good. Let's take it, let's put it out." So that was probably, like, a year of me and him going back and forth. Yeah, we were at like, Grammy weekend, and he'd be like, "Oh, Lana [Del Rey is] coming in at like 3, so we've got from like 11 to 3." So I was just like, punching in around all of his, like, very cool sessions. And meeting people with him and working on music is really cool.

Nilufer Arsala: Well, you're a very cool session too.

Bartees Strange: You know, thanks.

Nilufer Arsala: So what made you release an album named Horror on Valentine's Day?

Bartees Strange: Yeah, I just don't like Valentine's Day that much. I never really did. Yeah.

Nilufer Arsala: So it gives it a different meaning now.

Bartees Strange: Yeah. It does. Definitely, definitely.

Nilufer Arsala: So do feel like you've kind of like, worked through some of those struggles you were talking about?

Bartees Strange: Yeah, you know, it's like, you know, sometimes, like your body's telling you to sleep and you don't do it?

Nilufer Arsala: Yeah.

Bartees Strange: That's kind of what the record was. It's like, I was just writing; like, I didn't know what I was talking about. It was just songs and stuff I felt like I needed to say.

Nilufer Arsala: Yeah.

Bartees Strange: And music's always kind of been like that for me, like, in my day-to-day life, it's hard for me to be like my myself, but music has always kind of been where I can just be like, "This is what I feel," you know? And so I didn't really know what I was looking at until it was done, and I was like, "Oh, I needed to get this out," you know?

Nilufer Arsala: Yeah.

Bartees Strange: So, yeah, I don't know ... what was the question again?

Nilufer Arsala: It was if you felt like you worked through some of the issues ... ?

Bartees Strange: Yeah, yeah. So I felt like my body and my mind, like, took over. I was kind of just writing.

Nilufer Arsala: It's kind of like journaling, but like with music.

Bartees Strange: Yeah! I mean, that's what it is, definitely.

Nilufer Arsala: So I want to take it back a little bit. Well, kind of a lot of bit, because the first song I heard of yours was "Boomer," which was on the Live Forever album. And I grew up in Oklahoma, and I hear this song named "Boomer," and I'm like, "No — there's no way."

Bartees Strange: Yeah.

Nilufer Arsala: Because when you grow up in Oklahoma, Boomer is something you hear a lot because the University of Oklahoma. And then I saw the video, which I'm guessing was maybe recorded during pandemic?

Bartees Strange: Yeah.

Nilufer Arsala: Because it was just you playing all the instruments, and you're wearing a University of Oklahoma shirt. And I was like, "Hold on!" And then I started digging, and found out that even though you were born in England, you spent a lot of your high school years in Oklahoma, in a suburb of Oklahoma City. And I grew up in a suburb of Oklahoma City. And I'm wondering how much that experience of growing up in the area influenced some of the things that made it out on this record.

Bartees Strange: Oh, yo. So, like, I don't think I make this record, or any record without growing up in Oklahoma. First of all, I remember growing up in Oklahoma, my entire purpose in life at that point was like, "I need to get out of here. I don't care how I do it," you know? And as soon as I left, I realized that the only thing that made me interesting or different at all was because I was from Oklahoma.

Nilufer Arsala: Whoa!

Bartees Strange: You know?

Nilufer Arsala: Listen, things always come back to Oklahoma. They always do.

Bartees Strange: It all freaking comes back. In like the the people I met — there's no place like it. And the music, the things I was exposed to, the people I met, the things I was afraid of, the things I loved, the food I ate, like, everything about it is in everything I do, I've lived all over the world, but Oklahoma is, like, where I was created, you know? Like, where it all came together. And, like, you know, it's like, you know, there's stuff on the record that feels like, Gap Band.

Nilufer Arsala: Oh, yeah. Tulsa!

Bartees Strange: You know. It's like, yeah, you know, there's stuff on it, it's like, Funkadelic, it's Gap Band, you know. There's stuff on it that's, you know, Merle, or, you know, or pretty country stuff, you know? there's stuff on it that's poppy, you know, or experimental, you know. And I feel like all that stuff is happening there all the time, and it's all very prominent. And, yeah, I think it was because of where I grew up, in the community that I was from; like, I was like, a Black kid in a white city that went to Black churches and played on Black AAU basketball teams, that played on a white football team that, you know, like, you know, that went to opera camp at Cimarron Circuit Opera in Norman who, like, you know, did Falls Church, you know? Like, so, it's like, you know, I went to, so it's like all that stuff is in the backdrop. And, you know, I think a lot of people would naturally like separate all these things, but for me, it just kind of all folded in to what I do. And so, yeah, the record is a big reflection of that place, for sure.

Nilufer Arsala: So you talked about working with Jack Antonoff, but you've been producing also. So you produce some — a little bit on Lucy Dacus' album [Forever is a Feeling]. Can you talk about that a little, about jumping into producing?

Bartees Strange: Yeah. I produce a lot of my stuff. And I work with a lot of artists, writing and producing, and I really love it. I definitely see that as something that I can do long term, and I feel very good at it, and I'm excited for more people to recognize how good I am at it.

Nilufer Arsala: Well, I think that's probably right around the corner. Is there any artist that you are really excited about right now?

Bartees Strange: Oh, that I just like?

Nilufer Arsala: Yeah, that, or maybe you've had a hand in, like, producing, like, an up-and-coming artist.

Bartees Strange: Yes, there's one named King Isis. They're signed a Dirty Hit, and we just worked on an EP together, and it's so good. So, so good.

And there's this other artist I just produced a record for named Teeny Lieberson. Her name is Lou Tides, and she just had a song come out today, but her music is out of this world. She plays in Sharon van Etten's band; she's the keyboardist and guitarist in that band. And that record is absolutely insane.

Nilufer Arsala: I'm Nilufer Arsala. This is The Current. We've got Bartees Strange in studio today. His album, Horror, came out on Valentine's Day. So one more question, and then I'm gonna let you go. You told SLUG magazine, this is relating to the album: "Sometimes, the only way out of a lot of stuff is through it." And this kind of struck a chord with me, because I tell my son all the time, "The only way around is through"; like, you can't avoid it. But what does that mean to you?

Bartees Strange: I'm kind of smart — or I thought I was, always — and I always thought there was a lot of ways to solve things. But as I've gotten older, I've realized there's not. Like, most of the big things in life, there's really only one way to fix, and it's with being vulnerable and walking right through it. And it's the hardest thing you can ever do. And I know a lot of people that never did that, and I feel bad for them, watching them get older, and — like I said, you know, you start to recognize why some people are mean, why some people are hateful and old and spiteful, you know? — and I'm like, "Man, they've never been broken in half by life." Like they haven't had to, like, walk through it and face things in a real way. And I feel like that's kind of what I meant by that. It's like I've had some experiences in my life where I could have decided to not face, you know, and for better or for worse, I'd, you know, face them.

Nilufer Arsala: Well, Bartees Strange. Thank you so much for coming in today.

Bartees Strange: Yeah, thank you.

Nilufer Arsala: We're really excited to have you. I know you've been traveling. You got a European tour on the way.

Bartees Strange: Yeah.

Nilufer Arsala: And then what else you looking forward to?  Coming up end of the summer?

Bartees Strange: There'll be some festivals in the fall. Hopefully some like, big, famous band takes me on tour in the fall. That'd be cool.

Nilufer Arsala: That would be cool.

Bartees Strange: Yeah.

Nilufer Arsala: Well, thank you for coming in. It was wonderful to see you.

Bartees Strange: Yeah.

Nilufer Arsala: And I'm really enjoying the record.

Bartees Strange: Thanks.

Nilufer Arsala: This is The Current.

Gallery: Bartees Strange in studio

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Songs Performed

00:00:00 Sober
00:03:28 Doomsday Buttercup
00:06:32 Backseat Banton
All songs from Bartees Strange’s 2025 album, Horror, available on 4AD.

Musician

Bartees Strange – vocals, guitar

Credits

Guest – Bartees Strange
Host – Nilufer Arsala
Producer – Derrick Stevens
Video – Evan Clark, Eric Xu Romani
Audio – Eric Xu Romani
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor

External Link

Bartees Strange – official site