Wintersleep

New Inheritors

(Tom Kotter Company)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

We lost touch with Wintersleep for a little while; the last we wrote about them on this space, they were a young band making lovely but sorrowful music.  Their claim to fame was that a local Halifax weekly thought they were the best band in Canada.  Since then, they released another album (Welcome to the Night Sky) and won a Juno for New Group of the Year.  They have also appeared to embrace their inner Interpol – or actually maybe it’s their outer Interpol, in particular frontman Paul Murphy, who sounds strongly Banksian in his moodier moments (like the curiously contagious “Stack of government checks!” chorus on “Blood Collection”).

Two points of clarification: first, I haven’t caught up with the cool kids who have turned their backs on Banks & Co. completely, so an Interpol comparison isn’t meant as a demerit point. Secondly, the similarities are a recurring whisper, not a suffocating echo.  Granted, those whispers occasionally become pretty loud, especially during a few repetitive refrains (“New Inheritors,” “Black Camera”).  But the larger point seems to be that Wintersleep have confidently stretched themselves into near-arena territory, building a dramatic and polished sound that is miles removed from the brooding and decidedly indie feel to earlier tracks like “Insomnia.”  The latter remains one of my favorites from the band, but the “new” sound suits them well.  Helping them on their voyage of discovery is producer Tony Doogan, best known for his work with Belle & Sebastian and Mogwai.  And as much as it does seem like Wintersleep’s sound will continue to expand, New Inheritors is a convincing destination, too.

The album begins with a portentous string section to tell the listener that heavy things await.  While that lead track, “Experience the Jewel,” doesn’t quite hit the right mark, they build the momentum swiftly thereafter with the brisk anthem “Encyclopedia” (the album’s shortest track) and the aforementioned “Blood Collection” (the album’s best track).  They throw some changeups along the way, of course, like the peppy “Trace Decay,” which sounds more descended from ‘90s college rock.  The pared-down and poppy “Terrible Man” is a little light on its own, but in the context of the album is an upbeat palate cleanser before the denser, darker final stretch.