SPILL NEWS: WINTERSLEEP SHARES “YOU & I” FROM UPCOMING ALBUM ‘WISHING MOON’ VIA DINE ALONE RECORDS | TOUR DATES

WINTERSLEEP SHARES “YOU & I” FROM UPCOMING ALBUM WISHING MOON | TOUR DATES

DINE ALONE RECORDS

On February 13th, Wintersleep shared another new single from their upcoming album, Wishing Moon, their eighth full-length album and first record since 2019’s In The Land Of. “You & I” follows in the tracks of previous singles “Stranger Now” and “I Got A Feeling”, which hit #1 on the CBC Music Top 20 earlier this month.

On “You & I”, principal vocalist and guitarist Paul Murphy explains, “I remember receiving this demo idea from Loel and got inspired to work on it immediately. I was swimming with my kid, and it really pairs amazingly well with that sort of activity.

“It had been quite a while since we’d released stuff together and hung out (after COVID and moving to different towns), so when I started working on the lyrics, it had this general automatic romantic thing that comes to mind when you think of the phrase ‘you and I.’ But then, just receiving it at a time when I was spending time with my son, and the fact that it was a song from my homie I hadn’t seen in a while, also called to mind the idea of friendship and other forms of relatively intimate relationships that aren’t romantic, and that it all takes care and communication to keep a healthy balance in life.

“It’s hard to put this meaning into a song fully textually, and it’s probably hard to derive that fully from the text of this song alone, but that’s what was going on emotionally when I was working on lyrics. When we created the other sections and completed the writing together, just feelings of gratitude for close relationships, it all culminated into this sort of bridge section hug, which I love when that happens.”

The song arrives with a visualizer produced by RAINBOW LAND, directed by boy wonder, and featuring Tony Morrone.

Recorded at producer Nicolas Vernhes’ (The War on Drugs, Spoon) studio in the Mojave Desert near Pioneertown, the collection of 12 songs evidences a renewed vitality and energy: The band’s branches of prog-, indie-, folk-, and alternative-rock are in full bloom, stretching skyward with grateful, open, curious hearts.

Wishing Moon crackles with the energy of that sort of reinvigoration. The opening title track throbs with a Wurlitzer electric piano before bass and drums set off at a steady clip, setting a dreamy kraut-rock scene that builds, slowly, to a crescendo of hammered keys and soaring guitars while Murphy cries on the chorus: ‘Temperamental, I’m alive, I’m alone/Transcendental, I’m alive, I’m alone’. “Stranger Now” follows, with heavy desert-rock chording and sand-smoothed fuzz leads. (D’Eon attributes the record’s atmosphere and macabre grooves to the Mojave, famously channeled in the ominous, titanic riffing of bands like Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age.) “The band’s always at its strongest when there’s a fundamental groove that’s rolling along,” remarks Campbell. “I just felt a natural gravitation when we got into the room, like this propulsion and relentlessness. There’s a certain meditation within the grooves.”

“Wait for the Tide” recalls pre-Wintersleep days, even when Murphy and D’Eon created post-hardcore and prog-rock chaos in their high school band Kary. “My Mind Always” centers on a hypnotic, off-kilter acoustic riff, an unsettling, stoned sway of a love song. “Abyss” is an alt-rock endtimes anthem, feeling like it’s ready to pull apart at the seams at any moment despite its major-key gallop: ‘We’re living in the abyss now/In the life-affirming bliss!’ Murphy sings.

For Murphy, the record demonstrates a band that still takes chances. “We wanted to shake it up and do something more challenging,” he explains. That desire is partly why they chose to work with Vernhes, a producer they’d never created with. “We needed that energy of not knowing,” he continues. “I remember thinking that it should be uncomfortable, because it’s like getting in touch with who you are again, individually and as a group. Songs are really intimate things, and getting a song right on a record is a really intimate process. I think of collaboration with producers as a mirror, and felt especially in this case, it revealed a lot. Most importantly, I think Wishing Moon just has this living, breathing quality.”

Tour Dates

Friday, April 10, 26 Newcastle, UK – Little Buildings
Saturday, April 11, 26 Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
Sunday, April 12, 26 Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute
Monday, April 13, 26 Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds
Tuesday, April 14, 26 London, UK – The Lower Third
Thursday, April 16, 26 Paris, FR – Supersonic
Saturday, April 18, 26 Amsterdam, NL – Upstairs @ Paradiso
Sunday, April 19, 26 Cologne, DE – Garagen
Tuesday, April 21, 26 Hamburg, DE – Molotow
Wednesday, April 22 Husum, DE – Speicher
Thursday, April 23, 26 Berlin, DE – Mikropol
Saturday, April 25, 26 Zurich, CH – Bogen F

Saturday, May 9, 26 Saint John, NB Imperial Theatre
Sunday, May 10, 26 Moncton, NB Capitol Theatre
Monday, May 11, 26 Fredericton, NB The Playhouse
Thursday, May 14, 26 Windsor, NS Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia
Friday, May 15, 26 Halifax, NS Marquee Ballroom
Saturday, May 16, 26 Halifax, NS Marquee Ballroom
Thursday, June 4, 26 Victoria, BC Capitol Ballroom
Saturday, June 6, 26 Vancouver, BC Hollywood Theatre
Sunday, June 7, 26 Kelowna, BC Revelry Food + Music Hub
Wednesday, June 10, 26 Edmonton, AB The Starlite Room
Thursday, June 11, 26 Calgary, AB The Palace Theatre
Friday, June 12, 26 Saskatoon, SK The Capitol Music Club
Saturday, June 13, 26 Winnipeg, MB Park Theatre
Wednesday, June 17, 26 London, ON London Music Hall
Thursday, June 18, 26 Hamilton, ON Bridgeworks
Friday, June 19, 26 Toronto, ON Masonic Temple – The Concert Hall
Saturday, June 20, 26 Ottawa, ON The Bronson

Artist Links

Background Photo Credit: Justin Rix