winterpills by rick baker

A Week With Winterpills' "The Light Divides": Day 5

25 April 2007
tell your friends... tell your friends...

Words by Tony Conte // Illustration by Rick Baker

Think of Winterpills’ album as a dream. At once inviting, oftentimes inspiring, much like the frozen-over lake which begs to be traversed, but which crackles under each step. Remain in one place too long, and the ice may give, and what you find beneath the ice is cold, cold water. One of the first symptoms of hypothermia is confusion.

You’ll be safe if you don’t demand an awful lot of your music. Walk into this album (and I still suggest you buy it) with the intention of giving in to a dream. Succumb to it the way you would to sleep, and you’ll ride the cold wind of the music from one song to the next. Connect the images of the music, the ill-begotten themes of the lyrics, as you would connect the stars in a constellation. Use enough imagination and even Orion can make sense. Does that rough rectangle built of imaginary lines really look like a warrior suspended in the sky? I guess it’s all in who’s looking.

Winterpills give us images which a mind might otherwise conjure during a groggy state. These images are dark, and they desperately want to reach an agreement with reality.
“purple pitcher, perfect twins, one beside her three brown eggs, one striped vase, he holds a stick, the shadow cast is what connects”

“There will always be children, behind one comes another, on the stair the younger brother, in his grandmother’s shawl”

Winterpills has given us a soothing album of unassuming songs, built on a nearly invisible high-wire of tension: the lone electric guitar solo settles, after a somnambulistic slide, into a note which leaves the melody unresolved.

Winterpills will lead you by the hand into this dream-world. They won’t need to convince you to follow. The intriguing melodies, hushed whisper harmonies, perfect pacing, and familiar pre-millenium unease will be enough.

Yes, this album is a dream-state, a pleasant alternative to being awake: indelible when you’re in its midst, forgettable when you’re not.

share on facebook digg this seed newsvine delicious bookmarks seed magnolia

commenting closed for this article

Justin Towns Earle


Recent Progressive Reviews

A Week With Death Cab For Cutie's "Narrow Stairs"
    Day: 1  
A Week With Destroyer's "Trouble In Dreams"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Wu-Tang Clan's "8 Diagrams"
    Day: 4   3   2   1  
A Week With The Mountain Goats' "Heretic Pride"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Radiohead's "In Rainbows"
    Day: 3   2   1  
A Week With P.J. Harvey's "White Chalk"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Okkervil River's "The Stage Names"
    Day: 1  
A Week With Bill Callahan's "Woke On A Whaleheart"
    Day: 5  
A Week With Bill Callahan's "Woke One A Whaleheart"
    Day: 4  
A Week With Bill Callahan's "Woke On A Whaleheart"
    Day: 3   2   1  
A Week With The White Stripes' "Icky Thump"
    Day: 2   1  
A Week With Handsome Furs' "Plague Park"
    Day: 5   4   3   2  
A Week With The Handsome Furs' "Plague Park"
    Day: 1  
A Week With Bjork's "Volta"
    Day: 2   1  
A Week With Panda Bear's "Person Pitch"
    Day: 3   2   1  
A Week With Winterpills' "The Light Divides"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Modest Mouse's "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Arcade Fire's "Neon Bible"
    Day: 4   3   2   1  
A Week With Deerhoof's "Friend Opportunity"
    Day: 3   2   1  
A Week With The Shins' "Wincing The Night Away"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's "Some Loud Thunder"
    Day: 4   3   2   1  
A Week With Nellie McKay's "Pretty Little Head"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Luke Temple's "Snowbeast"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With The Skygreen Leopards' "Disciples of California"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With The Brak Show
    Day: 3   2   1  
A Week With Jay-Z's "Kingdom Come"
    Day: 4   3   2   1  
A Week With Swan Lake's "Beast Moans"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Joanna Newsom's "Ys"
    Day: 5   4   3   2   1  
A Week With Bright Eyes' "Noise Floor"
    Day: 5  



Redeye Distribution





Subscribe to our newsletter:



follow me on twitter

realdaytrotter: do yourself a favor and be like me: discover the daredevil christopher wright and wild beasts. go for it.



info@daytrotter.com