August 12, 1998
In the long illustrious line of husband and wife musical teams -- from Sonny and Cher to the Captain and Tenille -- few broke any musical boundaries. But that hasn't held back the Wild Strawberries, an eclectic duo ripe for the picking at this Friday's Lilith Fair.

Riding on the modest success of Quiver -- their most recent release on Nettwerk Records -- lead singer Roberta Carter Harrison and her more musically inclined husband Ken Harrison will be joining the fair for the second year in a row.

But concert-goers can expect a more diverse show this time around, with a major focus on electronic elements.

"We were listening to Panasonic, Mouse From Mars and DJ Shadow. I think what you listen to -- what you're enjoying -- is going to come back out in the wash somehow," says Carter Harrison, explaining the presence of drum loops and synth squiggles while on the telephone from her home in Toronto.

But don't think the Strawberries are merely jumping on the "electronica" bandwagon. As far as she is concerned, it's all a lot of media hype. "To tell you the truth, I don't even know if electronic stuff is selling that well. We just like listening to it."

The band began as a five-piece in 1989 -- one year after Roberta and Ken were married and one year before the two graduated from the University of Toronto. Eventually, the other members of the band left until only the happy couple remained.

"We are a total team. Anybody else would probably tell you honestly they felt like the odd man out," says Carter Harrison. "Maybe that's why it's easier to be a two-person band and hire the other guys."

So that's what they did. Eight additional musicians (several from McLachlan's band) were hired to help out in the studio for the production of Quiver, their fifth album.

Although the music and lyrics on the release are credited to "Wild Strawberries," there is a definite division of labor going on. Ken Harrison is the "musical architect" whose fondness for rare keyboards, orchestral arrangements and strange noises gives the music its aural complexity.

"It used to be entirely Ken, start to finish," says Carter Harrison. "I just felt like the singing was really where my talent was. But on this record we co-wrote some of the lyrics together. So that was another evolution. I really enjoyed it. It was cool."