"With Strangers" captures the spirit of Little Joy's self-titled and only full-length release. The warm analog recording and soft vocal croon only add to the sense of worldliness that this band possesses. Hailing from Brazil, including Fabrizio Moretti (drummer for indie supergroup, The Strokes), Little Joy succesfully creates an artistic ambience with characteristics including romantic nuances and blissful simplicity that is often attempted in mellow folk, yet not nearly as refined as Little Joy has executed. Perhaps the intangable charisma and spirit that their music has stems from the romanticism that runs at the root of their project, and them as artists. Romanticisms that manifest themselves in musical form; for example they juxtaposition of legato vs. staccato (or short vs. long) is a reoccuring theme in this song and album. They seem to use the acoustic guitar, drums, and bass as strictly staccato, or short, rythmic tracks counteracted by long vocal tones, and on this specific track, a beautifully somber melody backed by a vintage tape-washed harmony.
Aside from the musical romantacisms of Little Joy, romance runs deeper in the metaphorical veins of the band as earlier-mentioned Moretti and singer Binki Shapiro are in a relationship while both being members of the band, which not only leads to a romantic aesthetic, as you often see Moretti and Shapiro kissing in press photos, while the 3rd member of the band, Rodrigo Amarante poses with a guitar as though he's used to being around love. Interestingly, "With Strangers" is a rather melancholy song about inevitable loss, yet Little Joy manages to romanticize this as well; "I keep pretending not to care, the winter scent in her hair, compels my hands to do, the things my heart wouldn't dare" a lyric that beautifully portrays a girl and how the lyricist feels physically compelled to her, an unconventional, but rather romantic scene that this song paints; something that this band seamlessly accomplished with their first and most likely only full-length.
