Hit Like A Girl – “Monsters” (Feat. Bartees Strange)

Emily Berger

Hit Like A Girl – “Monsters” (Feat. Bartees Strange)

Emily Berger

Next month, the New Jersey band Hit Like A Girl will release their new album Heart Racer. The band already shared first single “Boardwalk,” and the album features appearances from indie luminaries like Bartees Strange and Petal’s Kiley Lotz. Today, they’ve shared “Monsters,” a duet that bandleader Nicolle Maroulis sings with Bartees Strange.

In the months since he released his great album Live Forever, Bartees Strange has been on an absolute tear, and he’s done a lot of work with other artists from the DIY world. He just produced the new Harmony Woods album Graceful Rage, for instance. And it’s very cool to hear Strange teaming up with Nicolle Maroulis, especially since the two have so much in common. Both make music inspired by pop-punk and emo and indie rock, and both have experience working in the nonprofit sector. Before he became a full-time musician, Strange was an environmental lobbyist in DC, while Maroulis is the founder of the nonprofit No More Dysphoria.

“Monsters” is a grand, surging song with some great harmonies and some sparkling guitars. Maroulis and Strange’s voices mesh beautifully, and they find the same tone of searching, left-behind melancholy. Below, check out director Adam Peditto’s video, in which Maroulis has a psychedelic experience while camping solo in the woods.

Heart Racer is out 4/2 via Refresh Records. Pre-order it here.

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