ALBUM REVIEW : A Stranger Debut CD Was Never More Welcome

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Stranger “Locomotive”

Desert Moon

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It’s fitting that Stranger is moving from Mission Viejo to the San Francisco Bay Area. The engaging quintet’s neo-hippie mixture of funk, rock and psychedelia lies a lot closer to the Grateful Dead than to, say, the Offspring.

This excellent debut release (which also invites comparisons to Widespread Panic and Mother Hips) convinces you that our loss will be Northern California’s gain. The band’s eclectic, stylistic approach is matched by attractively ambiguous wordplay and quirky shifts in tempo, and the music strikes a winning balance between garage-y and professionally tight.

With three capable songwriters contributing, a variety of engrossing ideas and images unfolds over the course of 14 selections. For instance, from lead guitarist Dave Hada’s “Venus and Delilah,” a mini-drama of potentially self-destructive addiction to love:

I’m happily miserable,

and if you don’t know what I mean,

half of her came right out of hell,

the other half from a dream.

Then there’s guitarist Duke Fightmaster’s “Happy Hookers”:

Happy hookers,

guaranteed to catch something . . .

Happy hookers, the way life should be.

Is he referring to prostitution or fishing? In any case, solving Stranger’s lyrical puzzles is only half of the fun as “Locomotive” churns along on multilayered tracks of hypnotic rhythms and acoustic and electric guitar licks that are dazzling at times.

Standout cuts include the instrumental “Movin’ On,” a double dip of acoustic guitar heaven courtesy of Hada and Fightmaster, and “Somedays Sometimes,” with edgy, piercing, soaring and mournful riffs from Hada and lyrics that cut to the core of a romantic breakup.

A couple of songs, “Middleman” and “Subtlety King,” wander aimlessly, and the band could add another dimension by injecting some grit and raw emotion. But on balance, this northbound locomotive takes its listeners on a maiden voyage well worth the ride. All aboard?