Last year, the dreamy Oakland shoegazers Welcome Strawberry released their sophomore album Desperate Flower. Today, they have followed that record with a relatively low-key EP, meant to accompany the LP and sensibly titled Floral Arrangements. The band seems to find a unique comfort in this acoustic-adjacent zone, offering a refreshing shift in their sonic palette.
In the Bandcamp description, the group describes Floral Arrangements as “an acoustic companion piece.” It serves as a thoughtful collection of odds and ends, featuring a new song, a remix of a track from Desperate Flower, and a cover of “As Big As You Are,” a 2020 song from their Bay Area contemporaries Aluminum. The final track is an old demo, and its sudden shift into big, distorted guitars provides a jarring, yet effective, contrast to the dreamlike spell cast by the preceding tracks.
The Floral Arrangements EP is out now on Cherub Dream. Welcome Strawberry leader Cyrus VandenBerghe is also a member of Sloome, who released the album Blue Fire Doom just last month.
