Everything started with long moments of introspection. First confinement, then a second one. And amongst it, a lot of anger: crisis management, a divided society, the ongoing climate crisis, #metoo & #BlackLivesMatters still being all over the internet. The world is filled with anger. What to do with all this?
StraZ's answer: to welcome it, to embrace it. No more greenwashing, personal development courses, "OK boomer" remarks, and quick fixes. Anger is a healthy emotion if you take it as a starting point to instigate change. It can allow you to build new things, to create Art in a meaningful way.
StraZ used this energy to compose It's Okay To Be Mad (released on Tempest of Noise), a 6-tracks EP illustrating the different aspects of anger: its origins, expressions, and consequences. Read as a single text, the various tracks of the EP give us a glimpse of the meaning of his approach: "Let's open it before I fall. If I'm refraining, I'm gonna lose it. It's okay to be mad... And now, what?"
StraZ offers a deep, intense and organic musical landscape, somewhere between Jon Hopkins, Rone and Moderat. The whole EP is powerful and aims to take you into a cathartic dimension when played live.