Strawberry Suburbia is lined with shades of red and magentas. The name is a combination of Strawberry Fields by the Beatles and and Suburban Home by the Descendents. The accompanying mix for this shade ranges from angsty punk vibes to songs about love. I wanted a balance between dream-like sounds and fast-paced beats in order to express the full range of feelings inspired by the colors of this machine.

The pattern for this shade was inspired by intense red fractal visualizations I experienced with my first prototype and I wanted to try and further induce such imagery with this prism-like pattern. It also mimics the box-like layouts of suburban communities. This machine, in particular, allowed people to experience more colors behind closed eyes than the other shades. A majority recorded that they had seen intense rainbow swirls and tessellations. Noted feelings included: warmth, energy, anger, insanity, and a numbing sensation.

While listening to Frankie Teardrop by Suicide, one person said,
“the screaming really freaked me out and I couldn’t feel my face for a while, it went numb. I felt like I was going insane, manically running through a forgotten Idaho corn field. I saw Vietnam War imagery and a caged person screaming. Also, I was able to see the fractal pattern with my eyes closed.

Another person experienced nostalgia while listening to the Cranberries and described the memory as the following:

“This song instantly transported me to the 90s. The colors were also very reminiscent of millenium pop. It made me think of Xenon, but also a ska show I went to in high school.”

A lot of my red and pink color-triggered correlations stem from house-based memories. My personal experience with this machine caused me to remember a pink tent I had as a child and at one point I saw an intense visualization of rust-colored carpeting. Strawberry Suburbia made some people feel like they were going mad, while others remembered influences from their childhood.