What a nice collection of dreams! Welcome Strawberry came in with a clever marriage of blur and energy, flavored by a touch of profoundness in the lyrics.
Let’s start with the original desperate flowers album, released in 2025.
From the elevator muzak harmony of fragrance net, to the dark grounding of unraveled smiles, we’re taken on a journey of the genre. The lightest song is undoubtedly ‘doings of a wraith,’ quickly immersing us in the summer. ‘violets & honey’ and ‘cheek scratchers’ share a similar upbeat energy, although the latter becomes a little more experimental with a less common chord progression appearing in the end. ‘nursery loop’ discards all sense of rhythm and puts us in a rippling dream. Personally, it reminds me of ambiences you could find in 2000’s Japanese video games in certain aquatic ambiences, or ambient lobby music. ‘memory cube’ and ‘simplesyrup’ put us right back into function, with pounding drums and more focus on the vocals, although the latter song samples short bits of Welcome Strawberry’s voice to do its own thing. ‘like a tulip’ surprises with a section that’s more industrial, filled with grimier guitar distortion than anywhere else on the album. ‘desperate flower’ is a nice return to a gain of spirit after all the exploration of heavy and melancholic ambiences.
The global aesthetic worked is similar to vintage cassettes, with a languishing vibrato added to the instruments. A real treat when combined with the amount of reverb, for example, on the drums, reminding of the 80’s (let’s not forget the tambourine!) and a very healthy dose of space on the guitars as any shoegaze record needs.
As a mixing engineer, it’s great to see the attention and care put into making sure the space is not as muddy as it is big. The drums still punch, the voice still comes through clearly, but the perceived room is as big as a galaxy.
Now, the desperate flowers remixes album, released this year (2026) is showcasing the style of four more artists.
Fire-Toolz’s remix of ‘fragrance net’ focuses way more on the guitar than the original, leaving the voice very subtly in the background, manipulated with formants and a phaser to sound less like lyrics and more like an instrument that’s as versatile as any other. It’s way faster and energetic, and bumps the drums to another level with a solo section where it’s resampled and heavily dreamt with a flanger and a high-feedback delay that freezes the snare strategically. The last section features textures that sound like the mix is breaking apart, and it gets heavier until the end, where the guitar solo is really the most broken apart.
After that, we get even an even higher energy remix of ‘memory cube’ by Ice Choir. It’s very reminiscent of a Drum n Bass groove because of the much drier drums and the constant tambourine & ride. This rad groove is audaciously implanted into a mix of opposite aesthetics: a hypnotic organ pad, all the wooshy effects, house-like piano melody using extended harmony, and the voice bringing it all together.
Shiny’s mix of ‘desperate shadow’ is similar to Ice Choir’s remix, except that it leans more into the voice, with a feminine side that blends well with the light harmony of a 1990’s kid’s youth. Its space is much less dry in comparison to the other remixes.
Where ‘unraveled smiles’ was very dark and grounded, this reinterpretation by Rocketship called ‘reravelled’ exhibits a much more melodramatic aura. It’s beginning with a slow crescendo into the organ-focused groove, soothes you as much as it pulls your heart out of its zone. This is accentuated by the slight dissonances and soft clusters that stay forever because of the psychedelic space.
All in all, this remix album deserves credit for not reusing the songs to evoke the same emotions. It is varied and not afraid to reinvent the message told by the original album. As an ending note, check out all of these artists’ music and appearances on other records! Akasrav!!
Written by Tachy Bunker
