Strawberry Guy Reimagines Breakthrough Smash “Mrs. Magic” Backed by Impressionistic Strings
PRAISE FOR Strawberry Guy
“A truly special record...his timeless artistry has the potential to astound the the world”
“Pastoral and dreamily introspective...There’s something of Lennon, The Left Banke and even Richard Hawley in them but this Guy has his own sweet signature”
“Symphonic shoegazing...typifies the best Scallydelia: honeyed and sincere, pastreferencing, future-leaning, fragile, with copper-bottomed melodies”
“A perfect continuation of the dream pop of Black, China Crisis and The Lightning Seeds...Sun Outside My Window is something quite special…Stephens' arrangements are often outstanding”
Listen to “Mrs. Magic” out now, here.
Today, Welsh-born and Liverpool-based singer-songwriter Strawberry Guy (Alex Stephens) shares a new gorgeously sculpted strings version of “Mrs. Magic.” Listen to “Mrs. Magic (Strings Version)” HERE. Stream the full EP, pre-order physical copies (vinyl out November 10), and get live tickets HERE.
In its original home-recorded form, “Mrs. Magic” served as Strawberry Guy’s breakthrough hit, racking up over a quater-billion streams on the back of some serendipitous TikTok virality.
This time, recording at Peter Gabriel’s idyllic Real World Studios with Manchester’s Northern Session Collective, “Mrs. Magic (Strings Version)” sounds even more sumptuous and surreal — you can just burrow into that string sound. The trip to Real World marks a first foray into studio recording for Strawberry Guy, and a new high-fidelity direction for the project, as he begins the process of making his sophomore album.
Also available today is the digital version of a full EP featuring special strings versions of “Mrs. Magic” and “F Song,” alongside the original recordings. Stripped of drums & synths, the new versions expose the bones of these songs. Pared down to piano and romantic new string arrangements, the careful melodies and indrawn lyrics are brought to the fore.
Strawberry Guy recently brought these strings versions — alongside reworkings of the rest of the Strawberry catalogue — to a special performance at London’s King Place, which he will follow up with a November 10 performance at the Liverpool Philharmonic. He then returns to the US for his second headline tour where he’ll be joined by a string quartet for his New York & Los Angeles shows, amidst a run that takes him to both coasts and up into Canada. Full tour dates below.
The new EP follows Strawberry Guy’s transportive and vividly-colored 2021 debut album Sun Outside My Window, which received praise from the likes of MOJO, Uncut, and The Line Of Best Fit. See some choice quotes below.
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