Strawberry Tops - Get It In City Living

​Strawberry Tops

Get It In City Living
self-released; 2025

TOP ALBUM

​By ​Dino DiMuro​​​

One of the great joys of reviewing music is discovering bands that stay with you for years, every bit a part of your music collection as The Beatles or R.E.M. John Broughton's homegrown project Strawberry Tops and their album "I've Forgotten How To Try" was one of the first bands I reviewed on Pitch Perfect. I became an instant fan, and am happy to announce his newest collection titled Get It In City Living, the band's fourth album.

John Broughton of North Carolina both inspires me musically and turns me a deep green with jealousy. He has a gift for unique musical sounds and structures you can't teach or steal (though god knows I try!). Broughton's music is not LoFi, but it's definitely DIY with the LoFi attitude of "try anything and see what sticks." Musical talent must run through the Broughton family as his sister Anne Claire provides the stellar violins (sometimes sounding like a mini Philharmonic), but this time they actually recorded in the same room! Broughton handles vocals, rhythm guitar and bass, partnering with long-distance collaborators Brian Ahnmark (drums) and newest member Jon Andrews (lead guitar).

Broughton says he builds his songs by writing riffs using unusual guitar tunings, then pairs them with melodic vocals. Brian Ahnmark then creates drum parts that help build the structure, and on top of this foundation all the other instruments are filled in. Apparently guitarist Jon Andrews has so many ideas that the challenge is what NOT to use! Broughton says this album may be more guitar-heavy than the others, and his influences include White Album Beatles, The Velvet Underground, The Doors, Beck and My Morning Jacket. He records with simple gear on Logic Pro using a laptop. As I've said in the past, his sound is partway between bedroom-indie and Pro studio. 

"Running" hits us right off with a thick mixture of cool guitar textures, matched perfectly with the roomy drums. Broughton's riffs are melodically interesting but presented in a boxy, Beefheartian cadence. Broughton's vocals are in the higher range and he enjoys long, drawn-out phrasing, sometimes with phasing! The track adds more guitars, vocals and cool sounds until the final section, which (as promised) is a total White Album rave up. Broughton's already in a great mood!

"And In A Way" moves into psychedelic territory, built with a lattice of extremely cool sounds interwoven with the acoustic guitar and melodic bass, and topped with Anne Claire's violins. The lyrics are almost like a mantra, with the oft-repeated phrase "My baby...". Psychedelia continues with "Guessed Once" that recalls very early Pink Floyd, Vanilla Fudge or The Velvet Underground. Again we have a rock structure that's close to a raga with acoustic guitar, fuzz lead interjections and phased vocals. Structurally the song is pretty static so it's all about the ornamentation, which must have been really fun to experiment with. 

"Loose Ends" evokes a visit to a carnival in Purgatory: you know you're getting out but don't know when! The altered sounds evoke dusty squeeze boxes and haunted organs, with a noontime parade of drunken clowns. Broughton really gets into the vocals with an assertive rock delivery. "Next to Nothing" has a mysterious vibe with a kind of bossa nova beat. The backing is picked acoustic, echo'd guitars and cloudy strings. This track has one of the more interesting and traditional song structures, and Broughton sings it with reverence. The rock section is more active with lots of rolling drums, before abruptly cutting back to the original themes and then back to rock! (No, that is not your CD player skipping!). 

"Menace" is based on a stuttering riff that harkens back to The Doors, and John even sort of sounds like Jim Morrison. Halfway in, the tracks starts to resemble a Beefheart outtake, festooned with all those cool party sounds Broughton's been peppering in, then morphs into Gong psychedelia (but let's face it: the psychedelia never goes away!). This track is over nine minutes, and the first time I heard it, I thought I'd walked a mile in the park before it was over! Very cool to get so granular within a single song's possibilities. "That Was Never the Point" is my favorite track by far, because the wailing, fuzzy lead guitars remind me of ME, and that rarely happens! But I also find it an overall satisfying track. "Reach" has a very cool alternate tuning on the guitars, with a chunky cadence bathed in spacey electronics. The drums again provide a perfect counterweight to the wall of chords. "Born Today" has its own special vibe, with a dark gravity reserved for the album's closing minutes (though there's still time for a closing rock-out). I doubt John could sing any lower than this!

If you love LoFi, DIY, indie, space prog or anything in-between, Strawberry Tops should be in your collection!

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