The musical project of Emi Night (they/them), Strawberry Runners has existed in some form since 2013, capitalizing on their early acclaim with the releases of the 2015 tape Hatcher Creek and the 2017 EP In the Garden, In the Night; Night's songs have garnered acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork, Stereogum, FLOOD, Wired, and NPR among others. From there, the journey which has led to Strawberry Runners has been a long and arduous one.
Night's compositions for ‘Strawberry Runners’ navigate themes of heartbreak, solitude, and belonging on the terrain of pop, folk, and country-reminiscent instrumentation. Their voice's ASMR-inducing textures melt into syrupy harmonized refrains, creating the album's alluring, bristling warmth. Amid the unfolding landscape of familiar yet abstract arrangements, Night wields the heavy lyrical material of failure, grief, and uncertainty with grace and disarming candor.
https://strawberryrunners.bandcamp.com
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It’s tempting to call David Combs a pop scientist. From his work in the ebullient D.C. power pop band Bad Moves to his work as Dim Wizard, Combs’s songs are so tightly crafted and explosively catchy, it feels like they were made by carefully tipping test tubes into beakers and making precise notations in a spreadsheet entitled GOOD HOOKS. However, as the name itself suggests, Dim Wizard proves that Combs is more alchemist than scientist, combining ingredients to create something completely unexpected and magical. In the studio, Dim Wizard is a collaborative recording process where he brings musicians, songwriters, and producers together to all contribute to a single song. On the road, Combs assembles a group of local friends to perform an interpretation of the same songs–each one unique. Every Dim Wizard show, like every Dim Wizard song, is a true one-of-one, a moment in time when likeminded musicians get together, pour all their ideas into a cauldron, and stir until it forms something surprising and, invariably, catchy as hell.
Other than being masterminded by Combs, Dim Wizard is not a solo project in any sense. The project was born out of pandemic isolation. Unable to visit with his friends down the street, Combs began reaching out to long distance friends, reconnecting, and sending songs back and forth to spark his favorite part of music: the joy of collaboration. Friends coming together to jam has never translated more directly to recording: every Dim Wizard song sounds like it takes place a few hours into a house party where everyone you know is either in the kitchen or smoking on the porch. On the most recent Dim Wizard single, “X-Games Mode,” ruminations on impending climate disaster and existential dread give way an exuberant chorus that provides the only possible response when you and your friends face down the horrors of living and the fear of dying: you fuckin’ party. “Dodging the dark zone / Killing my ego / Drinking a 4-0 / Running on X-Games mode.”