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<pre>Winterpills-Central Chambers (2008)
ARTiST: Winterpills
ALBUM: Central Chambers
BiTRATE: 187kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: Signature Sounds
GENRE: Indie
SiZE: 62.45 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 42min 57sec total
Track List:
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01. Everything 1:22
02. Take Away The Words 3:22
03. Beesting 4:01
04. Burning Hearts 4:03
05. Secret Blue Thread 4:23
06. Gentleman Farmer 4:32
07. We'll Bring You Down 3:21
08. You Don't Love Me Yet 3:52
09. Wire 3:31
10. What Makes Me Blind 4:22
11. Weary Heart 3:44
12. Immortal 2:24
Release Notes:
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Critically praised as a mirror of sorrows and a beacon of hope, the music of
Winterpills - true to its name - is medicine for weary hearts.
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.
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 discovered he had a heart
condition called an aortic aneurysm; a weakness in the aorta that can lead to
hemorrhaging or quick death if left untreated.
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" Billie, 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 warm
your heart one moment only to sting it the next.
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