The Winter Kids were supposed to break big. But things didn't quite wash that way. It was 2007 and they played back-to-back shows in New York. We caught them just after sundown at the Mercury Lounge after missing a Sunday night gig at a bar that doesn't usually sponsor concerts. One of the biggest buzz bands in the UK had been reduced to playing off-Houston/Delancey venues and sliding in at the Merc on a Monday at 8pm. This isn't exactly the red carpet treatment. Their leadsinger gave me their CD. And they went back over the ocean and never came back.
They still make music though. Their latest two offerings, "Another Break" and "Wonderland" are more of the same bouncy, synth-rock that colored their first LP Memoirs. It's catchy and singable and likeable, if you like that sort of thing. If you don't, it's cloying, desperate, and vapid. Luckily, a few chimes and a lighter-than-air guitar riff and I'm sold. "Another Break" is perhaps the band's thesis statement. "Here we are calling, calling/here we are calling for another break." It's a polite request. How many more chances can we have?
"Another Break"
The Winterkids - Another Break from Blake Claridge on Vimeo.
"Wonderland" has equal and opposite emotions. Making the simple statement of fact, "if this is your wonderland/I will run away," you could certainly apply some meaning, like heavy eye-liner, in the right or wrong places. Is this about being a band that made it within in the last 500 yards of being huge and then lost out? Is this about getting great press but album sales that only hit five-figures in Japan? If this is the dream, then why does it feel so hard?
"Wonderland"
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