WUSSY

Strawberry

wussy.org

The way it’s described throughout Strawberry, if love were a piece of produce you’d give it a squeeze, frown and think better of the purchase. That’s the metaphor suggested by the title, but on the rest of their fourth full-length these Cincinnati alt-rock stalwarts come up with cleverer ways of expressing romantic disappointment. Singer and guitarist Chuck Cleaver (formerly of Ass Ponys) digs space metaphors, and on “Asteroids” he imagines his heart “floating in a frozen void” amid squiggly sonar guitars. Partner Lisa Walker, singing as always with stoic Midwestern loveliness, prefers avian imagery; the piano-tinged “Magnolia” ends with a songbird botching a landing and taking a dive.