:: winterpills ::

winterpills is, alphabetically:

brian akey: bass
dennis crommett: guitar, vocal
dave hower: drums, shaken things
philip price: vocal, guitar, keyboard
flora reed: vocal, keyboard

CENTRAL CHAMBERS:

At the core of Central Chambers, their newest album and third overall, the Northampton, Mass. quintet maintains its signature chamber-indie ambience while exploring new grounds sonically and lyrically. In it, you’ll hear production running the gamut from boombox lo-fi to crisp studio sonorousness; dense rockers balanced by quiet hymns; and an overall diversity in instruments and textures. All of this backs the wandering words of songwriter Philip Price, and here we can see him condensing his meditative lyrical approach into mantras contemplating the frailty of humanity.

A performer with a background in 90′s powerpop (The Maggies) as well as solo-acoustic songwriting, Price sought something of a middle ground. Woodshedding sessions in the winter of 2004 led him and friends Flora Reed (piano, vocals), Dennis Crommett (guitar) and Dave Hower (drums) to become Winterpills, crafting a neat balance of heartrending lyrics, lush pop and dreamy guy-girl harmonies. Their self-titled debut, released in November of 2005, drew numerous comparisons to Elliott Smith, Ida and 60s torchbearers like Simon and Garfunkel and Neil Young. It was hailed as “a disc of faultless, sparkling indie pop” by NPR’s David Dye, while No Depression called it “alternately sad, cynical and deeply moving.” Soon the band recruited bassist Brian Akey and returned to writing and recording. Their stunning follow-up, The Light Divides, was released in February of 2007 to much acclaim, described by The Boston Globe as “dusky, quietly ripping folk-pop that sounded at once intimate and universal.” It was dubbed “painfully pretty” and “sublime” by the Philadelphia Daily News, and The Washington Post said “Price’s lyrics are densely packed but hugely evocative, tiny bombs of feeling and meaning.” 

When the band returned to engineer/producer Dave Chalfant’s studio in Conway, Mass. to record new tracks in the summer of 2007, the intention was just to create an EP. But then the project expanded; “It’s always nice when you suddenly have more material than you thought you were going to,” says Price. With the scope now a full-length album, the band had a chance to sit with the mixes and tweak them over time, bringing in guests like Dan McLeod – a Northampton neighbor who plays a mean singing saw on “Wire” – and Sidney Satorsky, a Montreal-based electronica performer who contributes keyboard treatments to a number of tracks. Production elements emerged, like the vinyl pop and hiss over the closer “Immortal” (a hymn intoned delicately by Reed), while the players dabbled in gentle waltzes (“Secret Blue Thread”) and driving march rhythms (“Beesting”).

Lyrically, Price has taken a direct approach in the songs that make up Central Chambers, hinted at in “Take Away the Words” – lose the names, lose the words, lose the complexity and confusion “or none of this might get told.” Words can, in some instances, be a barrier to understanding, and Price chooses his words carefully, with many of the album’s songs built around mantras on repeat. 

This heightens the subjects he studies, themes of frailty and humanity and the heart. He says the album’s title, Central Chambers, was initially chosen as a lark, a nod to the band’s Northampton rehearsal space. But as the writing/recording process was under way, Price had a medical alarm regarding his heart. Though it is a condition that requires monitoring, Price has been given a clean bill of health.

With mortality on his mind moreso than ever, the title came to represent for him the chambers of the heart, and themes of the heart crept into the songs he wrote; the life force of blue veins running through everything (“Secret Blue Thread”), an old man collapsing of a heart attack after losing his farm (“Gentleman Farmer”), the aging heart heard through the skin of sleep of an old romantic (“Weary Heart”). “The actual, physical heart goes through many changes and challenges,” Price says. But Central Chambers reflects the emotional heart as well. “To me, it also speaks to a place where judgment is dispersed, where lovers meet, where people live – and hide – and where secrets are kept.”

These concepts are conveyed with more presence and immediacy than we’ve heard from Winterpills – notice the forcefulness of “We’ll Bring You Down,” or the elegance of “Take Away The Words.” Certainly, we can still pick up on their roots: those Elliott Smith moments remain, along with newer directions invoking Bonnie “Prince” Billy, The Velvet Underground or The Arcade Fire. But you’ll find these influences only if you’re listening specifically for them.

Taken as a whole, though, the things you’ll hear here – the pleading lyrics, the dreamy pop, the harmonized vocal exchanges and evocative playing – comprise a distinctive sound, crafted over the course of three albums and very much owned by the band playing it. On Central Chambers, Winterpills’ biggest influence is none other than Winterpills itself, a strongly established voice that will sting you in the heart.

THE LIGHT DIVIDES, 2005:

“This disc scores very high in our imaginary ‘this is what music is and was meant to be’ chart. Gorgeous understated production, lovely melodies sung by people who can really sing…” -The Village Voice

“A sense of hope permeates the album’s gorgeous sonic textures and melancholic, muted palette….” – Paste Magazine (****)

“Wildly infectious tunes… Price writes poignantly melancholic songs backed by a talented and innately dynamic band.” – No Depression

“Witness Winterpills’ ‘Handkerchiefs,’ which stuffs grim ingredients into a winsomely pretty package that feels strangely sparkly, even downright lilting.” – National Public Radio

“…sophisticated, melodic pop-Americana… fine songs and nice lead guitar,but what’s special are their haunting almost West Coast ‘70’s harmonies.” – MOJO

“With careful male-female harmonies and righteously subdued acoustic-electric guitar interplay, Winterpills could strike a major chord with devotees of the dearly missed Go-Betweens, or Shins fans looking to handle a little more heart.” – The Independent Weekly

When Winterpills released their debut album in the fall of 2005, fans and critics alike scrambled to define what made it one of most significant musical discoveries of the year. Critics met the album with descriptions like “Heavy with moments of sheer beauty”, “exquisite vocals”, “deeply moving… heartrending”, and “as textured as the best indie rock around.” Fans put the album in the Top 100 on iTunes and Amazon.com and made Winterpills a most requested band on radio stations across the country. A feature on NPR’s Weekend Edition followed along with performances on syndicated radio shows World Café, Mountain Stage and others.

The Light Divides is a bittersweet breakthrough collection of songs that resoundingly delivers on the promise of the band’s debut. While the last album was recorded in singer/keyboardist Flora Reed’s home, The Light Divides is a true studio effort that opens up the band’s sound into an even more expansive palette, with richer colors and vibrant hues. “Our original idea for the first album was to casually record some demos at my house, but before we knew it we were making a full-length record,” says Reed. “We were able to go a lot further with this one. You’ll find some unexpected arrangements and more backwards guitar than you might expect to hear from us. There’s a lot you won’t catch on initial listens that hopefully, will tap you on the shoulder later.”

“These songs were ghosts when they first arrived. They became flesh and blood in the studio, and then became ghosts again, only even more translucent,” Price mused when asked about the album’s title. “I was thinking how, in the dark, we’re all one unrevealed event, a miasma. It’s only when we are hit with light that we are separate. In a way, perhaps this collection of songs is my way of cursing the light and, for better or for worse, avoiding lighting any candles.”

Novelist and music writer Jonathan Lethem says, “The Light Divides ups the ante on the Winterpills’ shimmering, resonant, heartbroken pop glory. These songs, as musically sophisticated and delicate as any of songwriter Philip Price’s career, and given otherwordly treatment by band members Flora Reed, Dave Hower, Brian Akey and Dennis Crommett, nevertheless feel essential, even familiar, like old friends. The hooks and harmonies have been burnished so that they glow from within — it’s as if Winterpills has brought to light the songs you were already humming to yourself, but didn’t know it.

“Here’s ‘Lay Your Heartbreak’, where a Neil Young melody tumbles down a Beatle rabbit-hole; ‘Broken Arm’, which might be Smokey Robinson lyricism negotiating with the shade of Elliott Smith; ‘July’, heartily embracing Matthew Sweet and The Byrds; ‘I Bear Witness’, a ramble along the dark road paved by Red House Painters; ‘June Eyes’ channeling Joni Mitchell through acoustic Led Zeppelin, and the gorgeous twin climaxes of the album, ‘You Don’t Live Long Enough’ and ‘A Folded Cloth’ — magisterial pop dramas that convince the listener that Winterpills is ultimately having a conversation with the whole history of rock and pop, and further, that it’s one of the great conversations going on at the moment. Tune in.”