Strange Love - A Somewhat Deep-dive

When I first read the script for a short film by Benjamin Jesse called Strange Love, I was in stitches — genuinely laughing out loud. My brain instantly started sprinting through ideas for the song.

For context: in the short film, the song is performed by the lead character to round off a truly bizarre first date. So obviously, this meant there had to be two versions of the track (this wasn't the original plan but I just like the song so much I though I had to). There's the film version, sung beautifully by Larisa Omerod, and the extended Lawrence J-P version. Complete with an extra verse, a couple more harmonies, and of course, the trademark cello solo because subtlety has never really been my thing.

The Inspiration and Creation

I’d just finished binge-watching The Mighty Boosh and immediately imagined the world of Strange Love having that same surreal, colourful energy. I wanted the song to mirror that feeling: starting off like an emotional ballad before spiralling into a weird little genre-blending chorus that sounds slightly unhinged in the best possible way.

The goal was to create a sound that felt like a French restaurant somehow located inside an aeroplane wreckage in a Latin American jungle. Very specific. Completely normal creative process.

Unlike most of my other songs, I was writing lyrics based on my interpretation of a fictional character created by Benjamin Jesse rather than pulling from personal experience. It felt unusual at first, but also really exciting and freeing. Taking myself out of the centre of the story opened the floodgates creatively — suddenly the possibilities felt endless while still somehow authentic.

I actually wrote most of the lyrics sat on the grass in a small Welsh town while watching the Cowbridge Ladies Cricket Team play. As writing locations go, lovely… although not exactly distraction-free.

The music itself started life on my extremely tired eight-year-old laptop using a demo version of Ableton Live

before eventually being finished after I upgraded and modernised my production setup. Strange Love is the first song I’ve fully independently produced, mixed, and mastered myself — which explains why the production process took soooooo much longer than expected.

That said, with a grand total of 93 tracks in the project, I probably should’ve realised this wasn’t going to be wrapped up in a casual weekend.

In true independent artist fashion, the vocals and cello were recorded in a bedroom… partially inside a wardrobe… assisted by a shot or two of toffee vodka. The vocals were recorded using a RØDE NT1-A microphone and cello using a Sennheiser e609 Dynamic microphone. And fun fact: the reverb used on the track is modelled on how the song would sound if performed inside York Minster. Why? Because I’m from York, which meant I obviously had no other option.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/0692f8_9c14c59b00364e07a94902a8fee926fb/480p/mp4/file.mp4

I’d really recommend giving the award-winning short film Strange Love a watch — and let me know which version of the song you prefer!