It’s always a moment.
After all the late-night-fights, the text messages you swore you wouldn’t answer, and the nights of wondering how the hell you ended up at their door again—the moment always comes. It’s all too much, and it’s time to move on.
Stray Local’s “Animal Shapes” is an anthem for the women who’ve had enough of bad relationships. Premiering on the INDY website today, “Animal Shapes” depicts the moment a woman swears off a man she’s repeatedly settled for. She turns to art so she can make animal shapes or “landscapes without [him] in the picture,” pouring herself into art projects as distractions and focusing her energy on a canvas to keep her out of his arms.
Raleigh’s married-songwriting-duo, Hannah and James Rowen, capture swirling emotions of anger, heartbreak, and liberation in the song. Though a darker departure from their single, “Shiver,” which the INDY premiered in January, Stray Local stays true to its head-bopping pop, weaving in eighties-era synthesizer sounds.
Streaming on all platforms Thursday, April 29, “Animal Shapes” is a tribute to the moment any woman makes the choice to walk away. But this is not a sad song. It’s catchy and uplifting, perfectly reminiscent of what is to come: freedom, growth, and independence. (For visual representation of that feeling, here’s a picture of Nicole Kidman after signing her divorce papers to Tom Cruise.)
Listening to the raw admission of exhaustion and clarity, I imagined every woman who has had her own version of that moment. And, even if you haven’t, “Animal Shapes” will resonate.
Comment on this story at music@indyweek.com.
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