Strange Ranger are playing our Range Life party in Austin on SXSW Music week, and it seems they’ll have at least one new song to perform. “Rain So Hard,” out today, follows last year’s expanded edition of the Philly group’s No Light In Heaven mixtape, which yielded the bonus track “Raver Explanation.” The new track is billed as the first of many from Strange Ranger this year, so perhaps a new album is on the way.

“Rain So Hard” was written while band members Isaac Eiger and Fiona Woodman were breaking up. It finds the former indie rockers continuing to explore the shoegazey electronic pop realm that’s been their focus in recent years. “I heard you write about culture,” Eiger sings at one climactic moment. “What’s that mean? Is it sort of like everything?” Director Ben Turok’s music video features Eiger in close-up, emoting through visual filters.

Eiger shared this statement:

Towards the end of the movie Slacker, there’s a brief scene where this old guy is wandering around recording his thoughts into a tape recorder. Just kind of rambling about loss and the impossibility of understanding anything while it’s happening. I don’t know if I saw Slacker around the time when I wrote this song but when I think about the song, that guy always comes to mind.

Watch below.

TOUR DATES:
03/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Pageant
03/13 – Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
03/14 – Atlanta, GA @ 529
03/16 – Austin, TX @ the Mohawk – Sub Pop x Saddle Creek Showcase SXSW
03/16 – Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s – Stereogum Showcase SXSW
03/17 – Austin, TX @ Swan Dive – Fire Talk Showcase SXSW
03/18 – Austin, TX @ Venue TBA – Baby’s All Right Showcase SXSW
03/19 – Little Rock, AZ @ Stickyz
03/20 – Memphis, TN @ Growlers
03/21 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzibar
03/24 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Roboto Project
03/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA