Welcome Strawberry and the blur and beauty of "Harvest Apartments" (Official Video)

 

"Eyes wander / Toward light / So sneak a peak and don't stare..."


Sometimes shoegaze filtered through whatever genre, indie rock, folk, chamber pop, is beautiful because of the haze embodies it. Sometimes that haziness, the power of it is that it somehow shows beauty while obscuring any inherent pain or melancholy by the act of the blur itself. That blur like fog on a window or Vaseline on a camera lens makes the sonic stories (real or not) feel like something far in the past. Maybe so far that any resulting bruises have healed at least enough to endure that pain or maybe sometimes the blur feels like a fever dream, like a surreal happening, a stir of one's imagination, nothing more. 

I haven't quite figured out how the blur, the haze works it's way into my head and heart on "Harvest Apartments" by Oakland based Welcome Strawberry, except to say that it does feel magical. The density of sound at the beginning that gives way to gentle folk indie laced tapestries and floating melodies are beautiful for whatever reason. 

My understanding is that Welcome Strawberry is the project name of Cyrus VandenBerghe (guitar, vocals, synth) and Daniel Baylis (drums, percussion) with other collaborators delineated on their Bandcamp page. "Harvest Apartments" is one of three sneak peaks of Welcome Strawberry's eponymous album dropping September 2nd of this year (2022).

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://www.instagram.com/welcomestrawberry/

https://welcomestrawberry.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-strawberry

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2b99AIXH9YLykApkwr5Cdm?si=gJR_5DkGQbykfrYChCzQtg&nd=1

Maybe songs grow like flowers. You water them or let them wilt. Eventually you will have enough to pick and make a bouquet, ugly and thorny or not. Welcome Strawberry is based in Oakland, CA.

** At this particular time we find ourselves in a financial pinch due to many factors. We want to keep AP going. It has been a passion project for over 13 years. PLEASE consider donating, we could really use the support. Thanks so much


We get by with a little help from our friends

 Welcome Strawberry, Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Alternative Rock, experimental wash, folk indie, "Harvest Apartments",  eponymous album, Cyrus VandenBerghe, Daniel Baylis,