Winterpills
Winterpills
(Signature Sounds/Soft Alarm)
First Appeared in The Music Box, August 2006, Volume 13, #8
Written by John Metzger
The Winterpills’ self-titled debut perfectly conveys in sound the group’s
moment of conception when, united in an old house in western Massachusetts, the
musicians forged their collective friendship around the songs that they shared
as winter settled outside. The spirits of Elliott Smith and Nick Drake weigh
heavily upon the set, but as the album progresses — and its coffeehouse folk
blossoms into a richly atmospheric wonderland of bittersweet beauty — it quickly
becomes apparent that the band’s vision is far more expansive. Indisputably
gray-hued, yet dappled with rays of sunshine, the music barely rises above a
whisper, thus providing a suitable accompaniment to the dissolving relationships
and fragile emotional states that are depicted in the Winterpills’ lyrics.
Lending the collection a magical aura, however, is the alchemical interplay
between vocalists Phillip Price and Flora Reed, which frequently conjures the
same sort of warm intimacy that pervades much of Belle & Sebastian’s work.
Elsewhere, Beatle-esque guitars tug at Threshing Machine’s shimmering
melody, laying bare the angst its characters are trying so heartbreakingly hard
to hide, while Want the Want situates itself neatly between Simon &
Garfunkel’s back-to-back gems Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and
Bookends. Nevertheless, it’s lost innocence and the harmonic convergence of
The Mamas and The Papas’ If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears that not
only figures prominently on both Laughing and Pills for Sara, but
also serves as the thematic touchstone to which the ensemble returns
continuously throughout its eponymous effort. Treading lightly, but leaving a
hefty impression, the Winterpills essentially has sculpted, from arrangements
that flutter and flicker in the wind, an intoxicating outing that is steeped in
the sad facets of humanity. 
Of Further Interest...
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Josh Ritter - Golden Age of Radio
Winterpills is available from
Barnes & Noble. To order, Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box