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Strawberry


Country of origin:

Canada

Type of music generally:

Ethereal trippy alternative pop

Status:

Most recent release, Squarewaves (digital ep, 2015)

See also:

Strawberry's bandcamp page

Wikpedia's minimal entry on Strawberry

All Music Guide's entry on Strawberry

Comparisons:

Perfume Tree, occasionally Pram-like in the delicate, sometimes off-kilter vocals, or perhaps sort of a cross between Perfume Tree and Portishead and Lois' indierock. At least those are the best descriptions I can come up with. (Neile)

Covers/own material:

Own

General comments:

A group that sounds ranges in sound from Perfume Tree, very trippy/dreamy, to the Broadcast/Laika- and Pram-like. Mostly ethereal vocals (some male vox). An interesting, creative mix of stuff. (Neile)

Recommended first album:

Brokeheart Audio

Recordings:

  • Strawberry (cassette-only ep, 1993)
  • Beached (assette-only ep, 1995)
  • Brokeheart Audio (1998)
  • Viva Me (digital, 1999/2000)
  • Squarewaves (digital ep, 2015)

Brokeheart Audio

Release info:

1998—No Records (Canada)—NORE20

Availability:

Downloadable at Strawberry's bandcamp page

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended for trippy trance fans

Group members:

Brian Arsenault—bass, acetone
Scott Garratt—guitar, vocals, organ, treated piano
Jon King—drums, tambourine
Deirdre Smith—vocals, piano, melodica

Guest artists:

Pat Deighan—guitar (1, 6)
Kevin Komoda—keyboards (1), organ (6, 12), moog (12)
Anthony Seck—guitar (3, 4, 8, 11)
William Collier—drums (6)

Comments:

Eclectic, and because of that a little uneven, but when they hit they hit strong. They lead off with the brilliant trancey, trip-hoppy, "On The Bottom" which is one of my favourite examples of electronic trance-pop. They immediately move to slightly more mainstream-y pop songs with "A Nervous Kind of Year." They're still a little trance-y pop, but livelier. They alternate then between these poppier songs ("20 Dollar High") with more singular tracks. "Kiev Trains," "The Seven Eyeball Waltz," "Burning Church," "In 2 or 3", "Nico Says," "I Miss my Mom" and "The Hangman's Song" are particularly Pram-like: long tracks of delightful, melodic but off-kilter weirdness with Deirdre Smith's vocals floating over stripped-down instrumental lines. A really intriguing album. I love the lead track and the Pram-like ones a LOT. Much of this is truly wonderful. An interesting, creative mix of stuff. (Neile)

Viva Me

Release info:

2010—digital release at Strawberry's bandcamp page of material recorded 1998–1999

Availability:

See Strawberry's bandcamp page

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended for fans of trippy pop

Group members:

Brian Arsenault—bass, arp, farfisa, rhodes
Deirdre Smith—vocals, melodica, farfisa, jx3p
Jon King—drums
Scott Garratt—guitar, voice, farfisa

Guest artists:

Roger Carter—rhodes, wandering genie
Kieran MacNamara—rhodes
Anthony Seck—guitar

Comments:

I can't get over how Broadcast and Laika-like this is, particular Broadcast: fragile, ethereal vocals. Quirky pop. Unusual and delightful. (Neile)

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DISCLAIMER: Comments and reviews in the Ectophiles' Guide are excerpted from the ecto mailing list or volunteered by members of the list. They are the opinions of music enthusiasts, not professional music critics.

Entry last updated 2015-04-30 18:49:21.
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