There's a reason why mother advised you against having sex with strangers. It's risky and may not turn out to be quite as pleasurable as you had hoped... or worse, you might actually like it!?! Let?s begin with first impressions: Sex With Strangers' 6-song debut release is tucked into an ominous black sleeve adorned with three simple grey towers and a dark cityscape on the back. It bears the title: A Future Tragedy. I open it and start reading the long-winded insert, which sends my eyes rolling upwards to the sky. The first sentence begins: "Night has fallen over an alternate NYC, circa 2010." 2010? That's, like, in 2.5 years from now! C'mon! I can't help but wonder why this disc needs so much explanation. Does the music not speak for itself as it should? Enough reading, let's have a listen. Vancouver-based Sex With Strangers are Hatch Benedict and Mike Gentile (formerly of The Switch). A Future Tragedy is co-produced and engineered by Mark Henning (Pure, Combine the Victorious). Kicking-off with high-strung, robotic dance rhythms, the disc tells the tragic story of future city dwellers and the apocalypse they must endure as a result of having entirely too much fun on the dance floor. I dunno about this! I have 2 choices here: A) These are pure, unadulterated dance floor beats. Just listen to it loud and enjoy - preferably in the company of many hot sweaty strangers. Or, B) Run, hide, take mom?s advice and resist the dark temptations of Sex With Strangers! To be honest, there?s nothing fresh here. The most enjoyable track is "The Pharmacy". At this point, the story?s hero gets down and dirty with a hot little rocket, f-words and all. Sadly, the sexed-up mood is wrecked with the following tracks that interchange randomly between calculated pop and pseudo-rock dance beats. My advice to dance-floor addicts is, play it safe, don?t run the risk of SWS. Head to your nearest vinyl dealer and pick-up some classic New Order, Depeche Mode or Gary Numan. Gosh, even the Pet Shop Boys would sound fresher and less formulaic than this. If you really need a fix, go out to your nearest 80?s night dance party! But, in the words of SWS, Beware of the Dance Police!

By Anne-Marie Brugger
Aug 31, 2007