Winter at Sea’s debut EP, Unfound, opens up with its title track: airy synths and found sounds, urgent yet soothing, Chapman’s electric guitars sounding as if they were recorded in the very atmosphere the EP so thematically pulls towards. With the introduction of heavier synths and acoustic guitars, the engulfing soundscapes evoke mid-to-late 1970s Gilmour-penned Pink Floyd compositions
As the name might suggest ‘We Ride At Dawn’ takes us further inland to more arid terrain, a Western-by-the-sea score to diminishing hopes and abstract losses.
‘Unfound (Piano I)’ demonstrates in a more measurable way what Winter at Sea are achieving so well here – treading the lines between melancholy and fortuity, never stoic, yet always guarded, never capricious, but always open.
The last and longest track, ‘When Your Fingers Touch Mine Through A Sleeping Mist’ boasts some curious horns and strings, a more somnambulant orchestral affair recalling the droney dreamscapes of Stars of the Lid. Winter at Sea have avoided the crescendocore histrionics of other post-rock groups and created a slow build over the course of the EP, finally taking us into more certain and unsettling territory, something threatening and almost extraterrestrial. Tensions waver, and nerve endings slacken as the EP pulls in but like any impactful composition, the silence beyond the last note is all too part of the experience.
Winter at Sea have packed a significant post-rock odyssey into a relatively small landscape. The water rarely rages and when the water is calm, the reflections are clear.
Unfound is out now on A Cheery Wave Records and can be purchased here.
Words: Rory Hughes
