THE WINSTONS

This album reminds me of Robert Wyatts whole career taken and blended up, then left to simmer in a barrel somewhere. Along the way some things break down, become ~indie rock~ and in 2016 you got The Winstons.

Nicotine Freak opens politely then becomes one of the more rocking tracks on the album with pretty catchy vocals (most of the vocals on here). It's a solid track but definitely one of the ones I like less due to the singing style on it. Diprotodon is sung in Japanese which pleases my ears and has some lovely Saxophone moments.For track three I don't really like the verse but I like the chorus and the bridge is a wonderfully distorted reward. On A Dark Cloud opens with sounds and builds to a powerful vocal section that climaxes, then floats for a bit, has a false end then closes with 1 minute of excellent instrumental work. She's My Face has an American lounge singer quality, it's a nice brief track. A Reason For Goodbye is the most Soft Machine track on the album, opening with what actually sounds like Joy Of A Toy. While it briefly has some vocals reminiscent of Nicotine Freak (albeit better) this track is mostly a dark instrumental with fun changes that really show why this album is filed under Canterbury Scene. Dancing In The Park With A Gun has nice delicate vocals and a bridge on par with the previous track. I have one minor fault with this song which is the vocals before the instrumental part strike me as unnecessary. Track 8 opens and closes with Italian talking. In between that is 2:30 of distorted keyboard playing. Tarmac closes the album, this one is a bit boring, I think the previous song would have made a better closer. Number Number is a bonus track that's like Diproton but a tad worse due to inferior instrumentation.

Overall this is a great album, I think fans of early Soft Machine/Robert Wyatt would get a kick out of this album. Definitely expect a strong Indie Rock influence though. Canterbury Sound Score 3/5

Share this THE WINSTONS review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Beautiful Scarlet
• Report this review (#2592247)
• Buy THE WINSTONS music online with PA partners
• Show all THE WINSTONS MP3/Stream
• Go to THE WINSTONS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to The Winstons page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for THE WINSTONS related discussions