Rewriting the Murder Ballad: Andrew Montana Releases New Single “Strawberry”
Out in a cabin in the North Carolina mountains, musician Andrew Montana has been in the woods crafting his first album and preparing to release his highly-anticipated single “Strawberry.” With an abundance of nature surrounding and guiding him and his sound, Montana is striving to create the “best record that’s ever been made,” he jokes, “Which is obviously kind of a joke but that’s how much we care about it … putting everything into it.” The cabin has been converted into an amateur recording studio by himself and Kyle Benor of The Ghost Caravan, who is producing Montana’s new music. “Strawberry” will be the first single of this endeavor released to the public.
“Strawberry” gained popularity when Montana posted a clip of the song on his TikTok, with comments praising the song and asking for a release. The time has come for listeners to enjoy the sounds of Montana’s guitar as he sweetly serenades you about a murder as the subject of the song cleans up blood and makes a strawberry pie.
“I remember being in seventh grade in history class and my teacher said … ‘If your sister killed somebody, what would you do?’ And I literally said, ‘I would help her hide the body’”
Montana recalls when discussing the inspiration for this song. “Strawberry” exaggerates this hypothetical moral dilemma by inventing a story, contrasting sweet indie-folk melodies with a bloody narrative scene. With this, he explores the themes of loyalty and vulnerability in relationships between any two people, how you can discover the darkest parts of someone and still stand by them.
“People are extremely flawed… everybody causes pain at some point,” Montana notes, “It’s an absurdist example of being with someone, learning their flaws… and sticking with them.”
Contrasting imagery carries through in the full album Montana is working on while spending his time in his woodland cabin. The expected album title is Azalea Holly, azaleas being flowers that bloom in spring and summertime, while hollies bloom in the winter. With songs from as long ago as his time in early high school, Montana and Benor are taking a unique, natural approach to the recording of these songs, incorporating the sounds of the room they are in and leaving in small performance flaws to create a more intimate experience with the listener and take them to the wonderful places he is channeling through song. “One thing that helps me remember my life is music… I can remember where I was when I first heard a song,” Montana says. With his songs, he hopes to pull the listener into those spaces, too.
“Having catchy melodies is what I care a lot about because I like the idea of someone not speaking English to connect with my music… or someone who can’t relate to what I’m saying being able to connect to the song because they understand that the melody connects.”
To Montana, there is nothing better in the world than images, than “vibes,” as he told me. Towards the end of our conversation, he showed me a window in the cabin and said, “You think I can write a song better than that?” In Azalea Holly, he is using his melodies to engulf the listener in his environment.