When Alex Stephens (A.K.A. Strawberry Guy) self-released his debut single in 2018, he was merely doing it out of a love for songwriting. What he wasn’t expecting was millions of streams and an avid worldwide fanbase.

A one-man impressionist, painting majestic soundscapes, Strawberry Guy blends truthful lyrics with lush arrangements to conjure new emotive worlds. Inspired by composers of the Romantic period, or Debussy, Ravel, and other classical artists of the 1800s, his wonderland moves like a Monet painting where arpeggios dance between meadows of dazzling dynamics and dramatic key changes.

Imitating nature’s effect on emotion, like 70s songwriters, or the fantastical soundtracks accompanying vibrant scenes in the Japanese animated Studio Ghibli films and video games, landscape is brought to the fore. Monet’s picturesque Meadow at Giverny features as the album’s accompanying artwork – perhaps a reminder of the rural Welsh countryside views through his childhood home’s window.

Take it slow, be at one with the wilderness and remember, when life gives you lemons, swap them for Strawberries