While many music makers are driven towards the idea of fame, fortune, and the high life, The Winter Sounds is one of those bands that advocates more considered and understated attitudes, at least if their latest single, “Cottagecore,” is anything too go by. And I’m not saying that they are anti-rock and roll, not in the least, especially with their reputation as a frenetic and “must see” live circuit band. It’s just there are more exciting aspects to the band and their music than most of their peers seem to be exhibiting.
Take, for example, the theme of “Cottagecore.” Most of us have entertained the dream of escaping to the country, putting the troubles of modern life behind us, and heading for a simpler existence at some point. But The Winter Sounds suggests that doing so is perhaps a selfish act, abandoning those who are unable to realize the same dream. Isn’t it better to stay and collectively fight to change things rather than run away? Food for thought, indeed.
Musically, there are some fascinating sonic forces at work. “Cottagecore” seems to exist where the hazy sonic winds of the post-punk sound merge, mingle, meld, and melt into more contemporary electro-pop sounds, there is a bedroom-pop understament and even a dream-pop wistfulness.
The result is a band making music with integrity and intelligence. In this case, we find a band embracing empathy and understanding and wedded to the ethos of the solar punk aesthetic, post-capitalist ideas, and a forward-thinking vision of the future.
Indeed, music with this level of forethought and consideration is much more than just entertainment. The Winter Sounds, through such a simple mechanism as making music, but music that has much to say and provokes deep thought, are an example of the standards by which all our art needs to be judged from now on. Otherwise, what’s the point?
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