Winter Gardens - Tapestry

Cast your mind back. To February 2019 to be exact. For it was at that time I introduced a new band from the Brighton area called Winter Gardens with their debut single Coral Bells; a mix of dreamy indie and punkish sounds that rattled with energy. It showed promise.

My crystal ball was working well that day because in a moment of spot-on fortune telling I suggested that lead singer Ananda had just a hint of Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins about her vocals - they have subsequently covered a Cocteau’s track - and that whilst there was a lot of energy in the music I could easily imagine Ananda’s voice coating itself over something a little slower and softer.

Now after a somewhat lengthy gap Winter Gardens has finally readied their debut EP and the lead single from it, Tapestry, released yesterday, is a treat. It does exactly what I imagined in that introducing piece. 

For at the start Ananda’s voice is given space to breathe, her voice a giddying and bewitching sound designed to make even the burliest of builders weak at the knees. The tempo is unhurried, the band seemingly realising that there Is no rush to reach heaven. There’s no chorus as such; the whole thing is constructed as one beautiful repeated nursery rhyme, so it doesn’t need it. What’s possibly even more striking though is the sheer power of the song, for when the explosions come, and believe me they do come, you are lost, deliriously lost, in a rich landscape of sound. Ananda’s voice battles to be heard and whilst this could be perceived as a tragedy, that melody, repeated again is already lodged in your brain. It doesn't need to be front and centre any more.

Gorgeous.

You can pre-order the debut Winter Gardens EP by clicking here.

Winter Gardens - Tapestry

Introducing: Winter Gardens

Back in 1984, in the UK, if you described yourself as being into indie music everyone had a pretty clear idea about what that sounded like. The chances were that your record collection would contain something (or everything) by The Smiths, The Pastels, The Wedding Present and Cocteau Twins. Those jangly guitar sounds ran through the veins of any self-respecting ‘alternative’ band from that period.

These days it isn’t really clear what indie is anymore. Take a look at some indie playlists on Spotify and you’ll find there is Indie R&B (Ella Mai and Craig David are on that), Indie Pop (everything from The 1975 to Jade Bird) to Fiesta Indie, whatever that is (it seems to include Confidence Man and Hot Chip).

But here is a new Brighton based band called Winter Gardens, who have a sound that is resolutely old school indie and it’s all the better for it. Their debut single Coral Bells, released through Austerity Records (a label name very suited to our times in the UK) came out on general release last Friday on 7” vinyl and is limited to just 100 copies. It jangles, riffs and stutters in a rather frantically charming way and the vocals from lead singer Ananda have just a hint of Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins about them. There’s a lot of out of the box energy in the music that contrasts with the voice that I can easily imagine coating itself over something a little slower and softer- but perhaps that will come later? Sometimes groups just have to get the adrenalin out of their system first. 

For now, however, Coral Bells shows Winter Gardens having lots of promise with their stark dreamy post-punk sound.

Winter Gardens - Coral Bells