Wyndow: Wyndow | People Radio

With their incredible debut album, Wyndow capture the conflicting feelings of uncertainty and familiarity of the past 18 months in this experimental time capsule of beautiful melodies, ethereal layers of voices and powerful lyrics.

Wyndow – Wyndow

Summer Review – October 8, 2021

It's not every day that a music festival turns into a psychedelic pop duo, but that's exactly what happened when Lavinia Blackwall met Laura J. Martin at the Moseley Folk Festival and shared a love for Robert Wyatt's music. This encounter became "Wyndow", the latest project of the two already established musicians.

Although she has released a number of solo albums, Glasgow-based guitarist / keyboardist / singer Blackwall is perhaps best known from Trembling Bells, the band formed by drummer Alex Nielson in 2008. The second half of the duo consists of Liverpudlian, Martin, who released her debut album "The Hangman Tree" in 2012 before being inducted into Tokyo Red Bull Music Academy in 2014, which allowed her to focus on her psychedelic folk sound and to develop him further.

So with “Wyndow” two masterful musicians team up to combine their talents and create some of their most introspective works that explore the sense of fearful insecurity many feel during the pandemic. Fittingly, the album was also written and recorded entirely remotely, with Martin and Blackwall sending each other musical postcards as they slowly built the album. Fully focused on the unique sound of the record, the duo contained everything they felt was necessary to achieve the sound they wanted without thinking about which genres they would cross or who had to play which instrument.

The opening song Never Alone begins with repetitive piano notes merging with cosmic synthesizers as the duo's transcendental vocals intertwine with the instruments. This song (and the album as a whole) contains some ambient influences that, combined with the couple's mellow and slightly haunted vocals, are reminiscent of artists like Karima Walker and Lucy Gooch. The pulsating piano and the gentle singing continue in All Cameras Gone and create a similarly ethereal and transcendental feeling. The song is a callback to the dust and the crackling of the analogue age, with lyrics like: "Watched the film work, Watched the reels burn." The music video directed by Peter Martin shows these influences more clearly and shows a series of camera shots Viewfinder perspectives and analog film material.

First released as a single in January, Take My Picture presents a slightly more grandiose and dazzling sound while still retaining the underbelly of melancholy that is present throughout the album. Piano and light percussion flow through the track before a jazz-influenced solo ends the track, while synthesizer lines fill the track's background. This is followed by a cover of Robert Wyatt's Free Will and Testament, the song that got Blackwall and Martin to work on Wyndow. The song's self-checking lyrics resonated with both artists and encouraged them to explore the subject further. Texts like: “So when I say that I know myself, how can I know that? Which spider understands arachnophobia? ”Bring to light the themes of the song of introspective insecurity and explore the struggle between knowledge and knowledge; Themes that underpin the album as a whole.

Third Tea of ​​the Day focuses more on the feelings of isolation and fear felt around the world while recording the album. The track presents a more sinister and haunting sound, both vocally and instrumentally, and lyrics like, "I wonder what happens when you're alone, spending a whole day without seeing a passerby" highlight the alienating themes of the song. Two Strong Legs was the second single the duo released, and unlike the previous track, it takes on a more floating and relaxing sound, with the minimalist piano notes taking center stage. The song captures a unique feeling of comfort, while its fancy sound ensures that the slight feeling of discomfort never completely disappears. Just as abstract as the song, but no less beautiful, is the expected strange music video directed by Jess Swainson.

Pulling a string continues the calming sound of the previous track while maintaining the slightly somber feel while moments of gentle piano melodies give way to the duo's powerful chorus. The song is based on the feeling of following familiar routes and wishing that they lead you somewhere else, which resonates with the duality of the album as a whole; Jump back and forth between the known and the abstract.

Next, Flattened by the Wind begins with minimalist piano notes, which then give way to the duo's powerful refrain. The following tracks, Woven In Thread and When Winter Comes Shadowing In, are both darker and more melancholy as slow piano melodies flow through the duo's delicate layers of voices. The album's final track, Tidal Range, begins with a gentle percussive background before the duo's vocals kick in in a mantra-like manner. Strong electric guitar notes appear around the middle of the song before giving way to the mellow piano notes and emotional vocals that have accompanied us throughout the album, closing the circle on the record for its conclusion.

With their incredible debut album, Wyndow capture the conflicting feelings of uncertainty and familiarity of the past 18 months in this experimental time capsule of beautiful melodies, ethereal layers of voices and powerful lyrics. The duality inherent in the record is used to oscillate between a feeling of calm and a feeling of discomfort, often at the same time. As Martin himself describes the album, it consists of "melodies for freaky worries that lift weights in worry gymnastics", in which "uncomfortable has never felt so light".

Wyndow will be released on October 8, 2021

Pre-order through Bandcamp | Norman Records | Amazon