When Dominic Mena found himself without a band in 2022, he briefly considered shit-canning Strange Lot altogether. Instead, he regrouped, recording 30 or so new demos that steered his Austin-based project away from psych-rock nostalgia toward something darker and more current. With its fuzzed-out guitars, hypnotic rhythms and shoegaze textures, “Eyes For Ya” embodies the sort of transformation Mena was after.
“We wanted the song to feel dreamlike and a little disorienting, almost like moving through a memory,” says Mena. “A lot of the decisions came from creating space, with layers of guitars and textures that slowly build rather than immediately revealing themselves. We were less focused on making everything feel polished and more interested in capturing a mood that pulls you in.”
Unfolding like fragments of an illusion, “Eyes For Ya” mines the thematic tension between reinvention and perceived identity. “It’s about change, going through periods of growth and realizing that while parts of us evolve, other parts never really do,” says Mena. “It’s about wanting something different, stepping into new chapters of life and wondering who we’re supposed to become as we move through them.”
We’re proud to premiere Strange Lot’s “Eyes For Ya.” Look for the band’s self-titled debut on August 14 via Greenway.
—Hobart Rowland