Every Monday, 88Nine music director Erin Wolf shares a sonic gem she found using her nearly 20 years of new-music exploration experience. You can hear all her discoveries at 2 p.m. every Sunday on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
That first week in January is always a little hit or miss as far as new releases go. Generally speaking, I never have high expectations for anything substantial to come rolling through release-wise on the first Friday of the year (nor should most people).
So, for the very first episode of What’s All This for 2025, I spent some time looking back to the past couple of weeks to see what I missed at the end of 2024. And I’m glad I looked back a little more thoroughly because I found some nice little gems buried in 2024’s wake.
It seems there was a pretty common theme for all of these stragglers: quietude vs. attitude. Introspection vs. extroversion. Thoughtful reflection vs. raging affliction. Geese frontman Cameron Winter timed out the release of his debut solo record for this more pensive time, and it seems appropriate, given that what he’s offering feels very transitory (much like the season he bears by name).
On lead track “Love Takes Miles,” Winter takes his wild rambling musical ways as the frontman of rock band Geese and whittles them down to an intimate, distilled version that feels more beautiful than anything Geese could ever create, even with more wild colors in their palette. Weirdly enough, an album called Heavy Metal is the place where that trademark wild voice is predominantly backed by pianos, strings and acoustic guitar, taking on a confiding tone that draws the listener closer rather than blowing ’em out of the water.
Dancing between the territories of Geese and artists like Rufus Wainwright and the Rolling Stones, Heavy Metal still sounds like a revelation and uniquely Winter.
Fueled by Wellbutrin and Winter’s bookish soulfulness, he admits that he’s mostly inspired by Dylan and Cohen, the Beats, James Joyce and Rimbaud, taking those epic, well-known ramblings and fashioning a way to voice them from his own, unique experiences. With that, Winter could be one step away from being called a copycat; it just takes a full listen to understand that it’s Winter’s stage to wax poetic on.
Find Heavy Metal out now on Partisan Records and “Love Takes Miles” on the latest episode of What’s All This (also in rotation, starting this week, on 88Nine). Listen to the entire show using the player at the top of the page, and come back to 88Nine at 2 p.m. every Sunday for What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
This week’s best new music
- The Innocence Mission, "Sisters and Brothers"
- Saint Etienne, "Gold"
- Cameron Winter, "Love Takes Miles"
- Amen Dunes, "Ian (Goodbye)"
- Beach Fossils, "Inside Out [Duster cover]"
- girlpuppy, "Window"
- Guided By Voices, "Dawn Believes"
- Horsegirl, "Julie"
- TOLEDO, "When He Comes Around"
- Miya Folick, "This Time Around"
- bby, "shhh"
- Tom Misch, "Falling For You"
- SAULT, "I Look For You"
