#remember a stranger

[joanofarc]

lovelost, motifs (2022).

there’s a picture of you i found you’re sitting in the snow (with the woman you loved) i think about the world you saw before me

[punkrockmixtapes]

Listen/purchase: Hourglass by motifs

[luuurien]

motifs - remember a stranger

(Dream Pop, Shoegaze, Indie Rock)

The Singaporean quintet's debut is a beautifully detailed and impressively transparent dive into loss and childhood, Elspeth Ong's voice and writing guiding the band through vivid shoegaze mirages and hazy ambient pop. remember a stranger's compactness combined with its potent instrumentation makes for a slim yet stunning album where fading memories are saved just before they drift entirely.

☆☆☆☆☆

For a modern dream pop band, motifs keep things decidedly low-key. Where their contemporaries embrace glossy chillwave (Lucid Express) or buzzing twee pop (Tokenainamae), the Singaporean quintet opt for something approaching cleaner, sweeter indie pop, leaning on heavy guitars and swirling effect pedals when necessary but often pulling back to reveal how fragile and sensitive a band they can be as well, their debut album remember a stranger a nine-track masterpiece of playful dream pop/post-punk with a distinctly personal bent, eschewing the usual abstraction of bands within their orbit and taking advantage of the genre's vast atmospherics to tell stories of childhood distress and the memories both broken and lost from them, Elspeth Ong's voice and writing guiding the band through vivid shoegaze mirages and hazy ambient pop. Everything just works with remember a stranger in ways few albums manage, where every instrumental element feels perfectly placed and no moment seems wasted even when the group slows down to near ambient levels of stillness, all delivered with such generous emotional vulnerability and a natural instinct for what makes this kind of music so good that it's impossible to listen to remember a stranger without wondering how this is just the band's first outing. motifs' success is as simple as all these songs being absolutely wonderful to listen to again and again. Like many modern indie bands, there are a myriad of 80s and 90s influences driving them forward, but motifs converge them in surprising ways that keeps remember a stranger feeling fresh and unique even as it steeps itself in traditional pop structures for the majority of its eight tracks. Though the title track plays on formless, gently strummed acoustic guitars for its first half - reminiscent of Slowdive's Dagger or even the softer cuts off Sweet Trip's You Will Never Know Why - the second half pulls the song into icy post-rock à la Sigur Ros, a surprising detour for the song that turns it from simply a tender penultimate cut to one of the album's most thrilling and rewarding tracks, while plucky cuts from the album's first half point to motifs' love of The Cure and Cocteau Twins as fluorescent brings out bouncy lead guitars and hourglass' sparkly synth leads shine a sunny warmth onto shoegaze the genre rarely finds itself in the same room as. It's not just that motifs can make great pop songs, it's that they can stitch such wonderful textures and subtle compositional notes into them to make remember a stranger lighter and lovelier than any other dream pop album this year even while retaining the genre's graceful oasis of noisy guitars and hushed singing. Ong's writing is another strong point for the album, something remember a stranger takes advantage of to reach just a little further as they catapult to the stars. Where the lyrics of a shoegaze song tend to be either nonexistent or loosely woven with imagery and intentional vagueness, Ong opts for specificity and rich environmental storytelling to allow motifs a new level of gutting emotional honesty, a warped image of what seems to be a death in her family dominating fluorescent ("I was four / All i saw was red paint all across our front door / Everything has changed ") and precise details from meeting an old friend making the already aching summersad even more of a heartbreaker ("I think you’ve lost some weight / Your hair still falls quite the same way"), remember a stranger focused on fading memories and coping with loss and stitching in as much detail as possible to try and not lose the image motifs are so desperately trying to hold onto. Combined with the crystal-clear instrumentation they often utilize, there's no way to listen to remember a stranger without those feelings coming at you straight-on, motifs building an experience where the bliss of their instrumentation is matched by how impactful Ong's songwriting and vocals are. It's a measured, perfectly balanced mix of glossy indie pop and thoughtful singer/songwriter-isms, and motifs bring it all together so flawlessly that remember a stranger's effortlessness never comes across as detached or indifferent. remember a stranger is dream pop at its peak, and nothing more. motifs aren't reinventing dream pop or trying to experiment much with their formula; their decision to stick to what's known and find ways to make it their own infinitely more gratifying as they search inwards towards healing rather than some external end point. Part of what makes the album special is how it lingers on old feelings without always feeling the need to resolve them, motifs sitting with a memory and often leaving it at that as remember a stranger commits itself solely to flipping through the pages of Ong's mind and learning what each story means to her. Understated, reserved, and absolutely brilliant, remember a stranger's spotlessness is the result of a band treasuring the opportunity to do what comes completely second nature to them.

[lazylittledragon]

t4t steddie my Beloved

[jewisheddiemunson]

One of them is about to do something cute

[apocalyptic-byler]

this is seriously one of my favorite scenes in s3 😭 JUST THE WAY STEVE TURNS HIS HEAD SO QUICKLY AND CONFIDENTLY TO HIS LEFT ONLY TO BE CORRECTED BY ROBIN’S “no your other right” AND STEVE’S LITTLE “oh.” THEN ROBIN’S “yeah.” IS SO FUNNY TO ME AND IT MAKES IT EVEN FUNNIER BECAUSE HE WASNT EVEN DRUGGED YET 😭😭😭

[inthewindtunnel]

Motifs

Valentine

Hourglass

Dusk

Summersad

Remember A Stranger

Spitzer

Remember A Stranger

-album-

[steddiealltheway]

Robin doesn’t really understand why Keith thought giving out free candy canes as it got closer to Christmas would increase “customer engagement.” Until she witnesses Eddie coming into the store practically every time that Steve works a shift just to sit around and watch Steve in awe as he absentmindedly sucks on a free Family Video candy cane.

[undreaming-fanfiction]

When everything settles down, Robin takes a few psychology classes in college, just out of interest. She learns some very useful tricks and has very few moral restraints about using them.

Steve and Eddie are very happy together, but Steve's cleanliness-loving personality sometimes suffers from Eddie being a chaotic gremlin. He sheds clothes like snakes shed their skin. It's not that he doesn't want to wash dishes - he just forgets they exist. A washing machine? Oh yeah, we have that somewhere.

Enter Robin visiting for her summer break and a huge bag of sour candies.

"Hey Eddie, I almost tripped on your vest, can you pick it up?"

Eddie mumbles an apology and drops the vest into the hamper.

She smiles at him, shaking the bag. "Thanks! Would you like a candy?"

Of course Eddie wants a candy. They're his favorite and Robin knows it.

"Hey Eddie, I'd like to make lunch, can you please wash some of those mugs? Thank you! Have a candy!"

"I slipped on that stupid overgrown grass, could you maybe mow the path to the house a little? Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver! A candy for you!"

"You organized all that by yourself? Steve's going to be so happy! Here, catch!"

Steve has long days at work so he doesn't notice much. At least, until he walks in on Eddie turning the washing mashine on, something he almost never does, and turning around, mouth open.

Before Steve can ask what's going on, he catches a tossed sour candy between his teeth.

And instead of an explanation, Robin just grins at him, hands him the remaining candies and mutters "you're welcome, dingus."

[mari-lair]

the response to the ant gon au was insane, here is some more on it

[bleedingoptimism]

"I dreamt we had sex" Steve says out of nowhere, making Eddie choke and cough up a cloud of smoke from the joint that had just been handed to him.

"Wh- Huh?" is all he manages to say.

"It's stupid," Steve laughs not looking at him. Eddie deflates a little, but Steve keeps going, "Just as I was about to cum, I woke up," he says and then looks up at Eddie.

Who is blushing, very confused, and very horny.

"Do you know what that means?" Steve asks with a crooked smile.

Eddie shakes his head and sits up straight, dying to know the answer.

Steve's smile grows, "It means you are attracted to me" he declares.

And Eddie feels his blush intensify, he feels like he's been caught. Like he's being made fun of. He looks at his knees, where his hands are twisting the fabric of his sweats, and then looks up at Steve.

"It doesn't" he whispers in vain because it's obvious and too late to lie about now.

"Yes, yes, it does mean that," Steve whispers back, scooting closer on the couch they are sharing. His smile looks less amused and more kind now, soft and careful.

"I'm attracted to you," he says and Eddie's eyes go wide. He feels the heat coming off his face as Steve moves a little closer, hand going up to touch Eddie's red and hot cheek but stops a breath away, "And you are attracted to me but since you don't want to tell me," he pauses to smile because Eddie moves his face closer to Steve's hands, finally making contact and nuzzling into it, "You come into my dreams to tell me anyways."

☕🥐💕 coffee? dream stories?

[yudol-skorbi]

this concept is so funny to me like s1 steddie fucking hilarious eddie would have the most embarrassing crush on the worst human being ever (in his opinion) and would be SO ANGRY about it

part 2

part 3

[lighthouseas]

no you don't understand. when byler kiss i need them to be gasping into each other's mouths and holding onto each other for dear life. i need them to be shoving each other into things and knocking things over because they're so desperate to be closer. i need them grinning like idiots against each press of lips. i need tears. i need forehead touches. i need hands running down each others' bodies. i need

[rogueddie]

When Steve wakes up, he is very confused. His room looks very different and unfamiliar- but he knows it's his. It still has the plaid wallpaper his mom had picked out for him (he hadn't liked it, but there was a lot of lines and pretty colors).

The toy car his babysitter, Sarah, had gotten him for his fifth birthday isn't on his dresser anymore. He knows that she'd left it there for him last night, playfully insisting that he couldn't play with it until his actual birthday.

He'd been so excited to play with it. He wants to cry, and wail. He wants to run to his parents and scream until they give it back.

But they aren't home. That's why his babysitter had been over the previous night. They have a very important business trip that they aren't allowed to miss, not even for Steve's birthday.

The pictures in the hall look different too. Sarah had put up some cool pictures for him. She'd done the same for his fourth birthday. They had to take them down at the end of the day, but it had been nice to have family pictures up. Even if it was just for a day.

Sarah isn't downstairs.

He almost does scream this time. She'd promised that she'd stay the night, sleeping on the sofa, so he could have pancakes for breakfast. It's one of the many things that he can't, or isn't allowed, to make on his own.

His cake isn't in the fridge either. He even pulls a chair over so he can climb on it, to see if she'd hidden it on one of the higher shelves.

He sits on one of the dining chairs, watching the clock, and waiting.

After two hours pass, he gives up any hope he has.

Sarah, just like his parents, is probably too busy for him. He reasons that she probably just forgot to tell him. His mom had done that one time- it had stung, but he couldn't blame her. He forgot lots of stuff, even if it is important.

The only cereal in the pantry is some plain, corn brand that he doesn't recognise. It tastes just as bad as it looks, but there isn't a lot of food anymore.

At least, not a lot that he can make.

He has a second bowl, putting a few spoons of sugar in. It's not much better, but he doesn't feel so hungry anymore.

The TV looks different too. There's weird and new things playing. It's fun, interesting, and distracts him well enough that he's able to keep himself from worrying about how long he'll have to be alone again.

The next day goes the same.

The third day, he risks cooking. It ends up a little burnt, but it's better than cereal all the time.

The fourth day, he can't eat the food he tries to cook. It smells too nasty. He has to have cereal again. The sugar helps.

The fifth day, he doesn't risk cooking. His parents have never left him alone, without a babysitter, for more than a week, so he'll have a nice meal soon.

The sixth day, he checks their voicemail. There's a few odd messages from grown up sounding people, asking about how he's feeling, but he doesn't recognise any of their voices. He doesn't know what numbers he should try calling. He hopes they try calling again.

The seventh day, he sits at the bottom of the stairs. He stares at the front door, ready to jump up and give his mom and dad a warm welcome home.

The eighth day, he's starting to worry. Surely his parents will remember to call a different babysitter?

The ninth day, there's a key in the door. He almost misses it, sat in the kitchen, glaring at his cereal.

"Steve!" Someone calls. It sounds like one of the nice, unfamiliar grown ups who left a voicemail message. "Stevie! You here? How are- oh my god."

"Hi," Steve greets. He waves, tries giving his most polite smile. He almost forgets to keep his lips shut- his dad told him that his teeth don't look nice enough for a grin that big yet. "You're one of the nice people who left me a message, right?"

She stares at him for a long moment, mouth hanging open. "Steve?"

"That's me! What's your name?"

"Robin."

He sticks a hand out to her. "I's nice to meet you Miss Robin!"

"Yeah," she replies, voice high and thin. Her hand is trembling when she gently shakes his hand. "I'm... gonna need to use your phone. Real quick, ok?"

"Um... ok. But you can't make long distance calls, mommy will be very mad at me." He bites his thumb nail, following her into the hall. "Are you a babysitter? Is Sarah sick?"

"Sarah?" Robin echoes, questioningly. She's only half paying attention though, pushing in a phone number.

"My babysitter. She was supposed to be here for my birthday."

"It's your birthday?" She chokes out, spinning around so fast she stumbles. She looks heartbroken.

"Not anymore! It's ok, you don't need to be sad. She gave me my present early too, so it was good."

"Wait. How long have you been... what have you been eating?"

"Um. Cereal, mostly. All the food is different. It's weird."

"That's not- oh, hi," she turns away slightly, talking to whoever is on the phone. "Yeah, I'm at Steve's right now. Gather, like, everyone. We have a major emergency."

"No!" Steve quickly says. He tugs at the bottom of her top. "Not an emergency! You can't say that, you'll get me in trouble!"

"You don't understand, this is-"

"No, please," he pleads. He can only hope he won't get in trouble for talking back to her. "I'm sorry."

"Ok, ok, alright," she agrees. She pauses for a second, listening. "No, that was Steve. Yeah, exactly, that's why-"

"Tell them it isn't an emergency. Please. If dad hears, I'll be in big trouble."

"Ok, big guy. It's not an emergency. Just... yeah, do that. Yeah. Alright. No, I'll be fine. I can deal with it. Ok, see you soon."

She hangs up with a sigh, turning to look at him. She still looks sad.

"Are you ok, Miss Robin?"

Her laugh sounds strained, but she laughs. "I'm alright. How are you?"

"I'm ok. Do you know when mommy and daddy will be back?"

"I don't. I'm sorry, Stevie."

"It's ok. It's only, like... I can't really, uh, cook."

"I can make you something. What's your fave? It was your birthday, you said? Let's get you something special! How old are you?"

He stumbles a little, trying to keep up with her fast talking as well as he long strides. "I'm five. Sarah was going to make me pancakes."

"We can do pancakes." She searches the cupboards and fridge, frowning. "Where is anything?"

"I dunno. I looked but everything is all gone or weird."

"Well... we'll just have to have pancakes later. Special pancakes, for the special birthday boy."

"I guess."

She steps close, putting her hands on her hips as she looks him over. "Are you sure you're five? Did you hit your growth spurt early? You're getting real big."

"I dunno. Mommy says I'm gonna be tall and be a real ladies man, or something."

"Do you even know what that means?"

"Not really. Mommy thinks it's cool though."

"Hm. Are you too big to pick up?"

"Oh, you're not supposed to. Daddy says I'm a big boy now. Big boys don't get picked up."

"Your dad's an asshole."

Steve giggles, quickly covering his mouth with both hands. "You're not supposed to say that! It's a naughty word!"

"Supposed to do this, supposed to do that," she tutts. She leans down, scooping him up into her arms, resting him on her hip. "Your five, stop being so boring!"

Her hand feels so big on his back, like there's no way he could fall with her holding him. She doesn't even seem to mind his hand automatically grabbing the collar of her shirt.

"Daddy doesn't like it when people pick me up."

"What do you like? Hm? Do you want me to put you down?"

"... No."

"Then I'm not putting you down. Daddy isn't here to tell us off, is he? And what he doesn't know, can't hurt him."

She bounces him a few times, making him giggle. Judging by her satisfied grin, that was her aim.

It confuses him, a little. Mostly because she keeps doing that- little things, little comments, trying to make him laugh. Trying to make him smile. Even just listening to him talk about things. Little things. Silly things. Like she isn't annoyed when he goes on, and on, and on.

By the time another person comes in, he's decided that she's the best person in the whole wide world. If she puts him down or tries to leave, he's going to throw a tantrum.

He knows it's bad, but he doesn't want her to leave too. She's cool.

"Oh, God. Robin, please tell me that the baby isn't Steve."

"He's five," Robin corrects. "And yes, it's Steve. I checked, it's him."

"What the hell happened to him?"

"I don't know, I called you!"

"Is something wrong with me?" Steve asks, voice quiet and timid.

"No!" Robin quickly tries to say, at the same time the man says, "yes, obviously."

"Dustin!" Robin scolds.

"What? Lying to him won't help!"

"Neither will being a dick about it!" She tutts at him, adjusting Steve in her arms when she looks to him. "It's nothing, like, bad. It's just kinda weird. See, when we saw you, a week ago... you were a little bit older than me. And now you're five."

Steve stares at her for a moment. She looks too serious, too honest.

"Weird," he says.

"Exactly," she agrees. "From what you've said, though, it's not that bad. You're still you, and you're healthy. You're just... not so big."

"Maybe El can fix him," Dustin mutters, squinting at Steve. He leans close. "When did this happen?"

"He's been like this for a week," Robin tells him. Her voice is quiet, almost scared- it doesn't help that Dustin looks horrified too. "At least."

"Who's been taking care of him?"

"No one."

"What the hell," Dustin turns his frown on Steve. "Why didn't you call anyone?"

"Not supposed to unless it's a real emergency," Steve says. "Mommy says she has a repo... rep... rep-yuh-tay-shun. It's a big thing."

Dustin looks heartbroken, turning to Robin, who shrugs back at him. He groans after a pause, frowning at Robin. "Shit. You can't drive."

"Oh, shit."

"I'll call Eddie," Dustin sighs, already heading to the hall.

"Who's Eddie?" Steve asks.

"Eddie's a friend. He looks a little scary, but don't worry. He's a big softie, an absolute teddy bear." She leans close, whispering loudly with a grin. "Don't tell him I told you, though. He likes to pretend that he's all tough and mean."

"And he's... not mean?"

"Not a cruel bone in his body."

"Ok," he bites at his thumb, frowning when Robin gently pulls his hand out his mouth. "You won't leave though, right?"

"I'm not going anywhere."

"You gotta promise, though! Pinky Promise!" He lifts a hand, sticking his pinky up- Robin almost immediately wraps her own around his.

"I promise I won't leave you. Who knows what could happen if I leave you alone with the gremlins." She pretends to shudder. "Oh, the horrors.."

"He'll be here in five minutes," Dustin announces.

"That's... quick."

"Yeah. I barely got out 'Steve is in trouble' before he hung up."

"Maybe don't start like that next time," Robin rolls her eyes. She adjusts Steve again, trying to sit him higher on her hip. "He's probably breaking at least, like, five speeding laws or something."

"I don't think that's how it works."

"Whatever." She huffs. "Jesus. Steve, bud, I might need to put you down for a sec."

"Oh... um... do you have to?"

"My arms are really starting to hurt, bud," she says. She looks as upset at the idea as he feels. "Maybe we could sit down together. Would that be a good compromise?"

"Yeah!" He grins. "What's a comp- compa-"

"Com-pruh-mise." She says it slowly, careful to sound it out, as she sits down on the sofa. She pulls Steve around so he's sat on her knees, facing her. She keeps one hand on his back, supporting him.

"Com-pa-mise," Steve repeats.

"Oh, that was great!" Robin encourages, laughing at how big and excited Steves responding grin is. "Well, compromise is when..."

Robin is so patient with him, taking her time with him, making sure he understands what she's saying- before easily jumping onto whatever tangent he brings up.

It feels like only a few minutes have passed by the time the doorbell rings. Dustin stands to answer- Steve had completely forgotten he was there the whole time, too caught up in his conversation with Robin.

He doesn't come back for a moment. Steve can hear muttering, straining to hear what they're saying, but the living room doors shut.

A man follows him inside. He's tall, with long hair and dark clothes. He looks different to anyone Steve has ever seen before. He looks scary.

"Oh god," he mumbles, frowning at Steve. "You're not joking."

Steve tugs at Robins sleeve, leaning close to her, whispering, "who's that?"

"Oh, right!" Robin groans when she stands, lifting Steve with her. "Steve, this is Eddie. Eddie, this is Steve."

"This is Steve," Eddie repeats. "Jesus Christ."

"Why do you look so scary?" Steve blurts out. He slaps a hand over his mouth, horrified.

But Eddie just laughs. "Damn, Stevie, tell me what you really think."

"You do!" Steve snaps, face warming. "All the black and chains and stuff."

"Robin is wearing 'black and chains and stuff'."

"Yeah, but Robins cool."

"You wound me," Eddie gasps, slapping a hand to his chest. "I'm totally cooler than Robin."

"Nope," Robin quickly cuts in. "Steve said I'm cool, not you. It's been said, declared- no, decreed! Facts are facts, Eds, suck on it!"

"Ew," Steve and Eddie say in sync, grimacing.

"Alright," Dustin interrupts, hands on his hips. "You're introduced, now can we go? Now?"

Part two

[hothammies]

"if you say that you are mine, i'll be here till the end of time" playing over mike's segment when he was trying to get to will is genuinely one of my fave pieces of byler evidence that i heard while rewatching

[fluffyfangirl]

*comes running like a mad woman, drops this and leaves*