The previous releases by the Wild Strawberries have mapped their gradual progression from radio-friendly innocence (Grace, Bet You Think I'm Lonely) to the gold selling anthem-filled Heroine. Now with the release of their new effort Quiver, the band shows a maturity and complexity which is sure to be one of 1998's strongest Canadian albums. Quiver marks Wild Strawberries' departure from indie dreamers to a musical force to be reckoned with.

Quiver is pure groove that escapes musical definition. Ken Harrison is the musical architect who can take credit for creating a record full of tireless intricacies which will keep Quiver in CD players everywhere. The album is a brilliant collision of quirky keyboards (the unhip Yamaha DX-7, Ken 's mother's ivory tinkling), champion beats, ultra grooves, mohair guitars, arcade noise, strings, cascading drones, horns, and slo-mo samples.

The sultry voice of Roberta Carter Harrison has an authority and strength that enables it to float along on its own melody through the album's labyrinth of sound. On the up tempo tracks ("Gotta Go", "You Could Be So Cold") Roberta's smoky voice commands that you follow her every word, seducing the listener like a femme fatale in a black and white movie. Roberta's signature vocals drift along the haunting waves of Quiver''s heart-achingly beautiful ballads ("Blunt", "Not Going To Cry"), proving that sometimes a delicate whisper is more powerful than a deafening scream.

"Quiver is an exercise in the unreliable narrator," says Ken about the lyrics. " This time around we wanted to be brave enough to let the characters say whatever they want to say. Sometimes they are full of crap. I certainly don't agree with everything they have said. But for me, that makes it all so much more exciting and rich. I don't want to live in a world where poems are merely someone's diary sausaged into rhyming couplets."

When asked why they called this release Quiver, Roberta offers the following explanations:

"We wanted something slinky, something that vibrated. We were looking for a word with ambivalence - - something that suggested both arousal and fear."

The potential of this record was recognized when world renowned mixer David Schiffman (N.I.N., Johnny Cash, Ozzy Osborne, and Jamiroquai) was brought in to turn the knobs on the final mixes. Additional mixing by Clif Norrell (Jeff Buckley, REM, The Pixies, Catherine Wheel) was done on the lead-off single "Trampoline".

Wild Strawberries have already toured Canada and the northern U.S. extensively on their own and as a part of the Lilith Fair festival and there is no doubt that they will tour heavily in support of Quiver.