Like warmer temperatures and bright hues being pumped back into our senses this time of year, a listen like “memory cube” has the power to naturally unlock synapses that can accentuate certain sensations within. The Oakland outlet of Cyrus VandenBerghe has been a focused craft of sound-and-sensory sculpting since the release of the band’s self-titled debut in 2022, but this first single from their sophomore follow-up, desperate flower, jumps further into its thesis statement that “scent is the most underrated artform” and how “so much of it is entangled with emotion, mood and memory.” The offering is an auditory spectacular of a guitar-and-synth-driven listen that’s shiny and speckled in dream-pop, thick, kaleidoscopic swirls of psychedelia, and an undercurrent of noisy feedback that presses its vivid display through the surface. “I don’t care / If you ruin me,” voices lushly request in its final breaths. Whatever fate is welcomed from here on out in Welcome Strawberry’s air. In fact, it seems they’d prefer destruction if it feels as good as this does.

Welcome Strawberry’s desperate flower will be released July 25th on Cherub Dream Records / à La Carte Records.