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Straylight Run gives 'Try' a try

Glenn Gamboa | DROPS

August 24, 2008

There is something completely charming about the fact that the new Straylight Run single, "Try," is once again thoroughly confounding when matched up with their previous work.

"Try," streaming on

absolutepunk.net until its Sept. 16 release on iTunes, is an upbeat mix of John Nolan's indie-rock vocals and dance beats, a combo similar to the great remixes of The Hush Sound and The Academy Is ...that were done for the "Snakes on a Plane" soundtrack a couple of years ago or maybe like the recent Black Kids album without all the Cure musical references.

It's a great idea and the Long Beach-based band - now a trio, after the exit of guitarist-singer Michelle DaRosa - is running with it, not just putting more artistic distance between them and their lush emo debut, but last year's more eclectic, underappreciated "The Needles the Space" album.

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For other bands, such an abrupt stylistic change would shock their following. Luckily, Straylight fans are used to these kind of musical twists, which Nolan even addresses in the song, singing, "I'm doing my best to make some sense out of senselessness."

STILL WILD ABOUT HARRY. Long Island musicians will honor the music and humanitarian work of the late Harry Chapin at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow with a free concert.

"Just Wild About Harry" will feature 18 Chapin songs, including "Cat's in the Cradle" and "Taxi," covered by artists including event organizer Stuart Markus, Folk Fiction and Frank Walker.

Though the show is free, concertgoers are asked to bring canned goods and nonperishable food items that will be donated to Long Island Cares, the anti-hunger group Chapin started in 1980.

"You can either be a giver or a taker," Chapin used to tell his children. Even 27 years after his death in a Long Island Expressway car accident, it's still clear which he chose to be.

Contact The Long Island Sound at glenn.gamboa@newsday.com or become friends with ndmus at MySpace or imeem