|
WINNING |
|
|
Track
Listing
|
|
Vancouver trio, Winning’s sophomore full length is as dour and uncomfortable as it is playful. It’s a paradigm sprouted from the seed of improvisation, but nurtured from a dark and claustrophobic sentiment. Structurally, Could We Believe In Magic? has it’s hands in a variety of extremes. It runs the gamut, from an apparent abandonment of traditional tempo and structure, to, at least comparatively, more conventional composition. 2006’s, This Is An For Cigarettes, Winning’s debut album, was a tangled and puzzling foray into rocks most experimental corners, abandoning rhythm, and structure almost completely; Only Magazine called it “...a clumsy acrobatic act beneath the Big Top of punk rock.” And Magic is, no doubt, a logic continuation of such acrobatics; the most notable difference being much larger occurrences of coherency. Melody and structure are gestured at; sometimes completed, and sometimes spun quickly out of control. One may assume that these moments of melody (are we bold enough to call them “choruses?”), would smooth out Winning’s cumbersome disposition. But it is arguable that the exact opposite is true. Much like how one warm day will make the cold ones feel colder; these moments create a reference point for normalcy. The pop insinuations on Magic are equally as baffling as the free structured ones. Lyrically, Magic is confrontational and brooding. References to business politics and ethics are combined with uneasy sexual indications. Lyrics like “Bank on notes because we’re going gold” coupled with song titles like Fame Won’t Bring The Ones We Love Back From The Grave suggest a deep bitterness towards the music industry and even hint at possible self-sabotage. It is unclear when business is a metaphor for human relationships and when it is the other way around. Blatant sex is used as a tool to illustrate deep sadness (“Oh, the lonely things we do to make each other cum”); a 180 degree spin from its usual purpose, culturally. The album art furthers this. Drawings of couples in the act of intercourse are presented as defaced monuments to unpleasantness. Although the musical allusions might be somewhat effortless to spot (The free-improv / anti-rhythms of early US MAPLE and the haunting melodies of RADIOHEAD) it would be a mistake to call Magic a cocktail of various styles. It would be more accurate to call it a chemical reaction; a mix of substances that don’t just combine, but actually react together to create something entirely new.
Winning Website
|
|
