Strays Don’t Sleep

Strays Don’t Sleep

[3/5] Nashville’s Strays Don’t Sleep happened by accident when solo dudes Matthew Ryan and Neilson Hubbard decided a little collaboration would be nice. They ended up not only with a full band and a heavyhearted take on Americana music, but also with a complete multimedia experience. The duo’s eponymous debut album is accompanied by a DVD of vignettes for every song-from blurry black-and-white shots of city streets and wintered trees to stark indie-film voyeurism-that enhance the whole Leonard Cohen-esque despair of the project. As the group’s collective years of experience show, they’re more than capable of delivering one tune of sublime lyrics and piano-driven depression after another. But you’ve really got to be in the mood for this downer. Either that, or ditched by your significant other and trapped inside by a snowstorm on the same day. (HYBRID) JR Griffin