Strawberry Guy's 'Give Me A Dream' Is a Lavish Masterpiece of Layered Strings
The Sonic Breakdown
Strawberry Guy is Alex Stephens, born in Caernarfon, schooled at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, formerly the keyboardist in The Orielles, and now splitting his time between Liverpool and Los Angeles. Give Me A Dream is his second album under the name, recorded at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas, and it is a considerable step up in scale from the records he wrote while working as a cleaner.
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Stephens produced it himself and the bass sits low and unobtrusive, there to anchor the piano rather than compete with it. Matt Colton’s master keeps the quiet passages genuinely quiet — there’s dynamic range here, and it’s used.
The Spatial Dynamics: This is the record’s whole argument. Stephens hired a string quartet and then stacked it: “we layered all the strings so that it sounded like a full orchestra,” as he’s described it. The result is wide and deep without ever sounding synthetic, and “Love Me Like You Used To” is where it opens furthest — musicOMH called that track “exquisitely orchestrated,” noting it “stretches out gloriously into the distance.”
Standout Performance
Manuel Calderon, who engineered the album and co-mixed it with Stephens. Fourteen tracks that segue into one another with no visible joins is an engineering achievement as much as a writing one.
Why It’s Certified
⚡ “Odette’s Lament” and “Odette’s Descent” are instrumental interludes that function as hinges rather than filler, and “Brighter” is the moment the clouds genuinely lift.
🌈 musicOMH, scoring it 4.5 out of 5: “Alexander Stephens’ exquisite second album sees his mastery of melancholic, symphonic pop reach stunning new heights.”
🌈 Same review, and we agree: “Give Me A Dream is a special release, and one that offers comfort and hope.”