Strawberry Switchblade’s eponymous first LP is a soaring New Wave classic plucked out of the DIY catacombs of Scotland.
will be revisiting albums that came out before the magazine was founded in July 2002 and assessing its current cultural relevance. This week, we’re looking at Strawberry Switchblade’s eponymous first and only album, a soaring New Wave classic plucked out of the DIY catacombs of Scotland in 1985 on the heels of the duo’s perfect UK hit “Since Yesterday.”In 1981, Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall formed a duo called Strawberry Switchblade.
By the time 1984 came around, Strawberry Switchblade started gaining widespread notoriety in Europe. “Since Yesterday,” just their second-ever recorded and released track, was a Top 5 hit on the UK Singles Chart—and it reached the Top 10 in Ireland, as well. McDowall wrote the song a few years prior; it was initially titled “Dance” and was a fixture of the group’s live shows in 1982.
In April 1985, Korova released Strawberry Switchblade’s only studio album. It was an eponymous release, pushed out with high expectations because of the integration of “Since Yesterday” into the mainstream. “Let Her Go” and “Who Knows What Love Is?” would both chart—#59 and #84 in the UK, respectively—but fail to seize any semblance of commercial success. While “Since Yesterday” had the pop gusto to make a mark, much ofwasn’t nearly as palatable to the general music-consuming public.
Strawberry Switchblade, spiritually, followed in the footsteps of bands like X-Ray Spex, the Slits and the Adverts. But if punk rock nurtured McDowall and Bryson into adulthood in late 1970s Glasgow, then synth-pop gave them the tools to write about it. It’s a shame that Strawberry Switchblade completely fractured by 1986, on account of Bryson’s agoraphobia and McDowall feeling dampened by growing fame. Had the formula been built to last longer, who knows how massive the duo could’ve been.
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