Maybe it’s just me
Or the Devil in the trees
This silence is raven
The fear of breaking out
Grief settles over a soul like the weight of an old quilt, one so heavy it takes the breath. It isn’t loud—it’s quiet, relentless, whispering from dark corners, tugging softly at thoughts until they fray. There’s an ache in losing, a wound that time knows but never really mends. Grief drags a person inward, into shadows we’d rather ignore, forcing us to meet pieces of ourselves we’d buried alongside the departed.
Some days, it feels easier to surrender, to drift in the current of sorrow, letting it take hold. But there’s another part—a flicker, small as a flame in winter—that fights to reach the light. It knows that even amidst the darkest ache, there’s strength to be found in quiet resilience. With each step forward, grief loosens its grip, and though scars remain, we find that the path forward, though blurred, is still there, just waiting.
Washington, DC, post-punk and alternative rock stalwarts Strange Boutique are back with a new single and video that grapples with this tough part of life with The Night Birds.
The song drifts through the deep, dark night, where thoughts swirl like a storm, restless and wild. Rooted but yearning, the voice stands on uneasy ground, bracing against silence thick as fog, and a fear that presses like night’s shadow. Familiar faces linger, pulled from memory, each touch and glance a flicker on the edge of sight. Beneath a watchful moon, a longing hums—constant, insistent—binding heart and mind against sleep’s soft lure. Monica Richards’ effervescent voice, hovering sweetly around the bluesy guitars, brings to mind a Lynchian soundtrack, as she launches into the beautiful, anthemic chorus.
Filmmaker Sara T. Gama casts this song’s world as a shimmering short film, starring Amanda Davis. The screen becomes a hazy realm of deep color and pulsing light, worked to strange effect by Jen Meller, who paints each frame in fleeting hues. Strange Boutique drifts through this world like phantoms, the otherworldly dreamscape caught somewhere between memory and myth, neither bound by time nor place.
Watch the video for “The Night Birds” below:
Strange Boutique rose out of the ashes of DC’s hardcore scene in the late 1980s, crossing barriers with the nebulous genre.
Between 1987 and 1994 the band released four full-length albums and two live albums with Bedazzled Records and also appeared on several compilation albums. Strange Boutique’s farewell performance took place at the Black Cat in Washington D.C. in November 1993. When Strange Boutique ended, the band scattered across the country and found new creative outlets … singer Monica Richards moved to Los Angeles and formed Faith and the Muse; guitarist Fred “Freak” Smith played in Blaxmyth, and bassist Steve Willett joined DC guitar ensemble Tone. Fred “Freak “Smith fell on dire straits, ended up homeless, and was tragically murdered in August of 2017.
What started as a means to some closure and a proper send-off for the beloved guitarist led to the first Strange Boutique show since 2004. In June of 2019, Strange Boutique rose from the ashes to a full house at a DC club for an evening of music, toasts, and a celebration of the life of a lost friend. While rehearsing with drummer Rand Blackwell and guitarist Dennis Kane, it became apparent that even after an extended hiatus and with a revamped line-up, … being Strange Boutique came naturally. The warm reception for the new lineup playing the old songs and the joy of playing together made the decision to write new material an easy one.
Circumstances collided and colluded, and for the first time in over twenty years there is new Strange Boutique music to share. Monica Richards, Steve Willett and Dennis Kane carry the torch now, riding the wave of an unexpected renaissance. David Christian joins them on drums for this track.
Listen to The Night Birds below and order the track here.
