Sugar Cherry a.k.a. Rozey is a rapper, singer/songwriter & producer from Detroit, Michigan now based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who began as an emo trap metal rapper on SoundCloud under his original Lil Rozey moniker & became 1/2 of the duo Plastic Dagger alongside ITSOKTOCRY. He would later drop an electronic ambient EP in 2023 called sugarcherrykisses, going for an indie folk direction for Isn’t It Wonderful? as well as It Was Almost You & the self-titled EP later that same year. Death Trap came out this past spring & Anything Instead of Anything celebrated Halloween with a brief collection of shoegazey goth rock cuts, signing to Quadeca’s very own Virgin Music imprint X8 Music for what has been described as Sugar Cherry’s only studio album on my 29th birthday.
“Every Knife in the House is Mine” begins with a lo-fi indie folk opener singing about missing warm summer days & for people to gather around the picnic whereas “Heaven” gives off a more prominently compositional tone aside from a few occasional lines working in these fuzzy piano chords to wish he was at the pearly gates with the person he has in mind. “It’s Her Moon” goes back to a lo-fi indie folk direction singing about a woman in his life who had passed a week earlier while “Irish” takes the loner folk route wishing that summer would come to an end.
The downer folk influences get amplified on “In a Lonely Place” singing about this person finding a reason to move forward & that he hasn’t just before “I’ve Known for a While” takes the slacker rock route hoping that it isn’t the last time he sees the one he wants to get away with for an unspecified period of time asking if it really matters when he’s already dead. “The Detroit Strangler” blends loner folk & indie rock together for a 91 second single sampling the Paramount Skydance Corporation’s faithful adaption of Revolutionary Road for the outro while the violin-heavy “Flowers (When You Come Home)” sings about blood moving slower his partner’s home.
“Bird Violence” continued with an indie/loner folk crossover wanting his lover to know she’s all he needs & the distancing between them taking a toll on his mental state while “Veins” compares his love interest to heroin, returning to the shoegaze sound that was all over Anything Instead of Anything nearly 6 weeks ago. “I Just Want You to Like Me” would have to be the weakest link if I had to pick 1 mostly due to it’s incredibly receptive approach to songwriting. “Beautiful World” sings about feeling like a ghost for the past 7 days getting fed up with being sick & alone when he awakes in the morning while “If I Come Home” trades off between a chorus & an instrumental breakdown.
As for “Heroin”, we have more elements of wombadelia being incorporated singing about crying for the last time & an individual who he thought was safe until they came his way while “Somehow a Part of Me Still Thinks You’re Coming Home Because In My Dreams I Got to Kiss You Goodbye” addressing someone he wants to see soon even if he can’t. “Surf David Surf” sings about the same old trick he plays on his that he’s been sobering up & doing well when none of those things are accurate while “October Sky” depressingly assures a deceased colleague he’ll join them when it’s time.
“Et Je Vous Montrerais Les Feux” continues the loner folk atmosphere wanting be loved in the midst of him trying to maintain his sobriety while “10,000 Pines” officially wraps up the LP in the form of this an 8 & a half minute ambient outro with a lo-fi edge to it. “A Killer” starts the deluxe run telling a friend named Darren that his life’s been falling apart, buying a gun for the sole purpose of murdering every last one of his friends in cold blood while “Sugar” admits to being unsure regarding whether or not he’ll have the ability of reuniting with a loved one in heaven.
Moving on from there, “Oh God” turns up the shoegaze undertones freaking out on the floor over the realization that he had let down an individual that he wants back in his life while “Scottish” sings about fleeing to the Scotland region of the United Kingdom or the country of Ireland only because he had planned on doing so with a woman who can’t be here with him presently. “Even If the Sky Turns Black” promises his soulmate that he’ll go to rehab again & get clean off drugs for hopefully the last time only for her sake while the slacker rock/outsider folk fusion “Shoobie” recalls seeing his late girlfriend by the Oceanside staring in one another’s eyes.
“The Way You Live” somberly sings about being unable to live without his partner as evident when she walked away while “The Great Big Fire in the Sky” likens his love for this woman to the usage of heroin, becoming self-aware of her hating the person he’s become & injecting her in his veins if he had the opportunity. The indie rock-flavored “Change (It Must Be)” sings about something in his life needing to be switched up while “Smiley” could’ve easily been combined with the previous cut serving as more of an interlude from my perspective.
Influences of loner folk bleed heavier during the single “On October 14, 2021, I Visited Lake Michigan & Saw My Own Reflection Staring Back at Me Drowning in the Water” confessing that he doesn’t know whether he’s in Hell or something closer to it while “I Can’t Feel You When You’re High” addresses a person he doesn’t recognize anymore, hating their own body as much as he hates his own. The final bonus track “Dog Food (Fall Time)” suiting for the season of autumn expressing true hatred for a junkie’s new friends.
With the exception of 3 newly recorded tracks, Land of Pine most likely concludes Sugar Cherry’s music career by making his own version of Minor Threat’s complete discography compilation after 6 years in the making & I say that because most of the full-length’s material has already been previously released as singles or originally appearing on Rozey’s earlier EPs like Isn’t It Wonderful? or self-titled. You might’ve also noticed almost all of his previous output has been scrubbed off the internet and it only makes this collection of singer/songwriter, indie folk, loner folk, tape music, slacker rock, shoegaze, dream pop & bedroom pop songs more poignant slowly pulling the layers back of his artistic growth from the late 2010s to now.
Score: 4.5/5
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