Penny Lame distils the ache of outgrowing a version of yourself into something hopeful with their new single ‘Strawberry Heart’. Dripping in suburban sadness and slow-burn synths, the track feels like flipping through old photos after a sleepless night- each memory filtered through dreamy haze, warm and bruised.
The song unfolds in layers, led by gauzy guitar lines and delicate percussion that shimmer. Vocals float above it all, soft, steady, and emotionally unguarded. There’s a sweetness in the delivery, but it’s sharpened by the weight of realisation: “This is who I was, and I’m not going back.” It’s not bitter. It’s not even angry. It’s the sound of finally stepping away.
‘Strawberry Heart’ finds its strength not in the moment of rupture, but in the quiet after. It’s an ode to the version of you that needed permission, and a subtle celebration of the one who no longer does. The instrumentation mirrors that feeling- lush and fragile at once, always threatening to break but never quite shattering.
There’s something cinematic about the whole thing, like a closing credits scene in a coming-of-age film you didn’t know was about you. Influences from the likes of Mazzy Star and Ethel Cain are there in spirit, but Penny Lame carves her own lane: intimate, weirdly magical, and unmistakably hers.
If this is the prelude to ‘Fever Dream, Fallen Star’, we’re in for something beautifully wrecked. ‘Strawberry Heart’ is a mood, a memory, and a quiet revolution wrapped in velvet reverb.