Mary Strand is great at writing slightly punk-fuelled, scuzzy indie-rock anthems, but there is always more going on than just music to have a good time to. A lot more. There is always a message, and her latest, “Least of All Her,” takes the sentiment that ran through her last release and amplifies it ten fold.
If “For All of Us (Dear Taylor)” was about hate and on line bullying in the public eye, “Least of All Her” is about its even darker underbelly, the behind-closed-doors horror of domestic violence towards women. (Although, of course, sometimes towards men too.) The distance between typing hateful words online and perpetrating physical violence on a partner is not as far as you might think.
The song is a reminder of the institutionalised half-acceptance that men hit women and it is just the way the world is, that such medieval attitudes are not only still prevailent in the world, but set against the growing empowerment of such attitudes by politics and policy from the popularist powers that be, on the rise.
Sonically suitably darker, rawer, and more lyrically intense than many of her songs, this is Mary at her most poignant. Many of her songs allude to an issue; this drags you forcefully to the scene of the crime… of countless crimes… and makes you face the grim reality of it all.
Music at its best should always have something to say. Otherwise, it is an opportunity wasted. This is music that screams harsh realities and visceral truths right in your face, and challenges you not to react.
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