Strawberry Whiplash “Stuck In The Never Ending Now” – Review

Esther (@myrtleleaf) is back with another review. This time she has turned her attention to the latest offering from Glasgow indie pop duo Strawberry Whiplash, who’s name is a Scottish indie heritage mash up of Strawberry Switchblade and early Creation band Meat Whiplash.

The album is released on Santa Barbara based Matinee Recordings and with Esther just down the road in San Diego, Scotland and California has never seemed so neighbourly.

Anyway, here is what Esther had to say about the new Strawberry Whiplash album.

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Although it’s December and deep into the winter holiday season, this album is not just breezy summer-sounding indie pop songs, as the clever cover that has the feel of a nautilus shell could seem to suggest. It’s an album of different flavors from Scottish pop duo Laz and Sandra McCluskey (if you haven’t already done so, be sure to seek Laz’ other music project Bubblegum Lemonade). So it’s been a great companion since its release last month throughout both sunny and rainy days here (yes, rain in Southern California!)

A country-inflected riff is the first sound I hear on album opener Every Day the Sun Shines Bright and right away I know this album will be a treat full of different sounds. There’s the punchy If Surface Were Depth and Halcyon, both in the same vein of C86 era Talulah Gosh. Time Takes You Away, the first song released is infectious, with its cool bongo sound.

The strongest songs for me, however, have a slightly dark and melancholy feel: Too Close to Call, which has the most beautiful guitar solo in the entire album, and the slower, dreamy Ride the Waves To The Shore, a swooning number with some more wonderful percussion that gives this song a sophisticated pop sound. Perfect album closer This Is All We Have is wistful and anthemic. Sandra sings with conviction, her voice remaining lush, ‘There is no more, there is no afterwards, this is all we have’. Just beautiful.

All twelve songs are varied keeping the album sounding fresh but familiar, and as the inside cover of the album proclaims, guaranteed to be 100% auto tune free.