When you feel you’ve figured out the band Stormcellar, here’s their new song “By Myself Without You” to set you straight. A band known for its genre-hopping with a combination of deliberateness and dare, this Aussie cult roots outfit mutates with uneasy gracefulness. Lifted from their 16th studio album “Juggernaut,” the song is a prime specimen of the band’s no-compromise approach to their art, but this time around, they’re mixing it up with synths, harmonica, falsetto, and unfiltered rock power in a way that feels both fresh and warmly familiar.
“By Myself Without You” sounds like the kind of thing one would hear in a moody European indie film or the warped, misty dancefloor where the past and present meet and mingle. The dirt-rocky landscape across which veteran guitarist Paul Surany lays his loops is gritty as hell, and mixing maestro-turned-frontman MJEB (since 2020’s Sweet Grace of Mercy) sends it home with a vocal presence as aching as it is hypnotic. His falsetto oozes loneliness, echoing the title’s heartbreak, while his verses retain a simmering intensity that engulfs without suffocating.
Synth and harmonica loops blend in an unprobably union, dragging Stormcellar into SynthPop territory but never once leaving behind their rootsy soul. It’s weird and beautiful, a cut you’ll play repeatedly just to hear everything happening in the background. Stormcellar have never been ones to avoid complexity and “By Myself Without You” reaffirms that. And it’s the type of song that changes with each listen. Sometimes, it feels like a cathartic goodbye, sometimes like a victory lap of solitude, but it’s always unmistakably a Stormcellar song. They did it again, with “Juggernaut” as they built yet another world of sound with no map, and “By Myself Without You” is one of its more beguiling stops. For long-time fans, it’s yet another pleasant surprise. If nothing else, it is an outlandish and lovely foothold in the band’s ongoing universe for newcomers.
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