Emi Night arrived on the scene back in 2017 with their Americana-flecked indie-pop debut as Strawberry Runners, In the Garden, in the Night. And over the past six years we’ve heard virtually nothing from the project until 2021 saw the release of a set of vocal-and-guitar demos recorded in 2020, hinting that Night was still actively writing under the moniker. But today Strawberry Runners officially return with their first new single since 2017 with “Circle Circle,” a fully recharged and engagingly upbeat full-band recording documenting, in Night’s words, “a search for meaning in a lifetime of disparate moments that can feel both monumental and insignificant, and maintaining curiosity in what can be simultaneously a mundane, cruel, chaotic, lonely, and beautiful world.”
Night continues on about the song’s inception, noting that the inspiration for “Circle Circle” came in the midst of fever dreaming, while “experiencing cyclical thoughts, rumination, and anxiety during the strange waking hours illness brings.” The song additionally reminded Night of the healing power songwriting can have, in this case momentarily breaking the delirious cyclical thinking pattern they were stuck in during their illness. “If you’ve ever felt at sea in the midst of a disorienting transformation, and can imagine that through torrents of emotion you find a pillar of stability to cling to, to climb and gain your bearings, to witness the whole stormy sea thrashing about without being swept up in its current—that’s a bit how music began to feel to me while writing this song.”
The new track arrives with a creative visual documenting various circular structures and items encountered in everyday life, giving momentum to otherwise meaningless images. Check it out below.
