Today, Winter has announced her new album What Kind of Blue Are You?, due out October 14th on cult indie label Bar/None Records (Yo La Tengo, Ivy).
Along with the news, Winter has shared lead single “atonement”, a rhythm centric banger buoyed by a tightly wound breakbeat and soaring chorus.
The track features Hatchie’s Harriette Pilbeam & Joe Agius, Winter will tour the West Coast with Peel Dream Magazine, and have announced LA & NYC releases shows.
On the single, Winter says “Every time I hear this song a new version of the story plays out in my head – an escape, a mystery, a forbidden love. By the time it reaches full climax there is a big reveal – the secret is out, the we discover who committed the crime, the two lovers find each other.” On the collaboration, Pilbeam says the track “really wrote itself and was a lot of fun to make.” Agius adds, “The concept for the video immediately came to mind when working on the song together. The dark and talkative verses contrasting with the bubbly hopeful choruses really conveyed the kinda energy I wanted to translate”
Over the course of the pandemic, Samira decamped to Studio 22 in L.A. with producer Joo Joo Ashworth (Automatic, Dummy, SASAMI) where the pair spent the many months of harsh uncertainty sharpening her songs into a fine point. “I felt like I was making music in a dark cave with an old friend and no one else existed,” Samira says of the process. Within that place of separation from the outside world, she was able to venture into the core of Winter, imbuing every musical choice with a confident intentionality, and newfound vulnerability. Whereas 2020’s Endless Space (Between You and I) was steeped in fairytale surrealism and springlike grace, What Kind of Blue Are You? is crystalline and spartan, songs stripped to their inner blue core – Winter’s smoldering shadow self.
Aug 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Braindead Studios, Genghis Cohen
Today, Winter has shared her new single “lose you”, a dreamlike reverie that harkens back to Samira
Winter’s earliest days, stripping her songwriting down to its core elements, crystalline and spartan. The new single comes with the announcement of West Coast tour dates with the like minded Peel Dream Magazine.
Over the course of the pandemic, Samira decamped to Studio 22 in L.A. with producer Joo Joo Ashworth (Automatic, Dummy, SASAMI) where the pair spent the many months of harsh uncertainty sharpening her songs into a fine point. “I felt like I was making music in a dark cave with an old friend and no one else existed,” Samira says of the process. Within that place of separation from the outside world, she was able to venture into the core of Winter, imbuing every musical choice with a confident intentionality, and newfound vulnerability. More so than ever before, the hypnotic rhythms of electronic music were a key reference point, as well as reliable favorites like early MBV & The Pastels.
Despite its euphoric clusters of synthesizers and skyward melodies, “lose you” is one of the most vulnerable songs from those sessions, Winter speaking to the grim realities of predatory abuse. “It’s a song about one of my saddest moments,” she explains, “where I realized that my close friend had been groomed by this older person that we all knew. I locked myself in my studio, turned on my blue light, and channeled this moment of despair through writing this song. Painting with exclamations from my Juno synth and releasing my emotions in a flurry of reverse delayed vocals.”
Tour Dates
Aug 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Braindead Studios, Genghis Cohen
Automatic – the LA trio of Izzy Glaudini (synths, lead vocals), Lola Dompé (drums, vocals) and Halle Saxon (bass, vocals) – is back with their second album. On Excess, Automatic synthesizes a new strain of retrofuturist motorik pop. The album rides the imaginary edge where the ‘70s underground met the corporate culture of the ‘80s – or, as the band puts it, “That fleeting moment when what was once cool quickly turned and became mainstream, all for the sake of consumerism.”
Using this point in time as a lens through which to view the present moment, Excess takes aim at corporate culture and extravagance. The overarching themes of alienation and escapism emerged as Automatic put Excess together, taking writing retreats to flesh out the new songs before decamping to the studio for sprint recording sessions with producer Joo Joo Ashworth (Sasami, FROTH).
On album opener and lead single, “New Beginning” – which was inspired by the Swedish sci-fi film Aniara – Automatic reject the false hope of leaving behind a scorched planet and searching for “a better place.”
Automatic Tour Dates:
US (with Parquet Courts)
Apr 22: Seattle, WA – Showbox
Apr 23: Vancouver, BC – Imperial
Apr 25: Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
Apr 27: Oakland, CA – Fox
Apr 28: Los Angeles, CA – Wiltern
US
May 14-15: Los Angeles, CA – Cruel World Festival
US (with Tame Impala)
May 24 : Wilmington, NC – Live Oak Bank Pavilion
May 26 : Columbus, OH – KEMBA Live! Festival Stage
UK & EUROPE
May 28: UK, London – Wide Awake
May 29: UK, Manchester – Yes
May 30: UK, Leeds – Headrow House
May 31: UK, Brighton – Green Door Store
Jun 01: FR, Lille – L’Aéronef
Jun 02: FR, Paris – L’international
Jun 03: FR, Angers – Levitation
Jun 04: ES, Barcelona – Primavera
Jun 05: ES, Barcelona – Primavera
Jun 08: IT, Ravenna – Beaches Brew
Jun 09: CH, Neuchatel – Festineuch
Jun 10: CH, Aarau – Kiff (with Choir Boy & Soft Kill)
Spin Magazine