On the North York Moors

Winter

Mon 28 August 2006

We have a policy here that everyone who plays The Band Room must have released at least one critically-acclaimed CD - it's the simplest form of quality control and it has never let us down. So we knew Winter (who have now recorded two tremendous CDs, Million Miles and Ten Songs) were going to be good. But we had no idea they were going to be this good. On the night they played The Band Room they virtually blew us away, and at The Farndale Show they were just as amazing.

This is a band that draws on rock, pop, Americana, folk, roots and blues in a delightful, seamless fusion which in live performance - propelled by Anna-Lena's clever, incisive lyrics and charismatic stage presence - is as powerful as anything around right now. She opened for Bob Dylan in Scandanavia, and influence wise, you can hear bits of Lucinda Williams, 10,000 Maniacs and Fleetwood Mac. But the band's origins are so skilfully assimmilated it's impossible to pinpoint exactly where all this comes from.

The sound is their own, completely contemporary - and the impact as direct as classic rock. In fact their show here was so incendiary it left me convinced they need to record a live album as soon as possible. Because live they're even better than they are in the studio.

Winter website

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