I've got a weird parasocial relationship with
Cameron Winter. It's
honestly really uncomfortable to me and a bit awkward to write about.
It started with getting into
Geese when they were
opening for Spoon back
in 2022. I was supposed to go to the concert, and I was excited to see the
opener who was getting a ton of buzz at that time, albeit that buzz was fairly
niche at the time.
I ended up having a conflict with the concert and didn't go. Lame.
But something about Geese's music stuck with me.
Their breakout album
3D Country came out
the following year. The singles were weird, country-infused, bluesy rock songs
that I wasn't quite sure I would get into.
Then 2122 came out
with the album as the opening track and it all clicked for me. It's still got
the blues influence, but they lean so far forward into how wacky they are as a
band it's one of those things where you go "oh, this is what they're going
for". If you're looking for an unhinged rock song, this is the one.
Fast forward to December 2024. I put a few 3D Country songs in my
Spotify Wrapped top 10, and I get a notification that Cameron Winter dropped a
solo project called
Heavy Metal.
Interesting.
Didn't click for me at first, but then we get to March 2025 and I randomly
listen to Love Takes Miles
again and read the lyrics. Are you kidding me? This is one of my favorite songs
ever! It clicked.
My daughter (almost 2 at the time) really liked listening to a song together
before I put her to bed (I really liked listening to a song together before I
put her to bed). That night I tried Love Takes Miles. She caught a glimpse of the
album cover, grabbed my phone, stared at the album cover and let the song repeat
4 times. I kid you not that her eyes did not leave that screen (probably great
for a 2 year old right before bed).
From then on, she was a fan. We listened to Love Takes Miles on
repeat every time we were in the car for basically the entirety of 2025, and
she literally had all the lyrics memorized (or should I say all the sounds).
It won Pitchfork's song of the year and then Cam and Geese blew up.
Anyways, sorry, that was a lot. I guess this is me saying his music really
bonded my daughter and me in a deep way, and it will always remind me deeply of that
2 year old year.
Geez, let me wrap this up. Last weekend Cameron dropped his Live at Carnegie
Hall album, recorded when he was just 23. Extremely significant because who
was the other solo artist who performed at Carnegie Hall in that age range with
just them and their instrument on stage?
Bob Dylan.
The Dylan comps have been flying since Winter's debut came out, and this just
made those more real. It's semi-blasphemous, but I get it. Both are insanely
talented lyricists, are in the
Americana spectrum, and have
a voice that makes you scratch your head on first listen.
↗
2026
Live at Carnegie Hall
Cameron Winter
singer-songwriterpianoamericana
I wrote a bit about It All Fell in the River
last week, and I think it's the most accessible song here. It's also one of
the new songs, not on his studio album, so the piano version is the only one
I've heard.
I love the piano version of these songs, but there are a few on here I have a
hard time pointing you to over the studio album version.
Love Takes Miles,
with its unique production and space for Cam's voice to breathe,
Cancer of the Skull,
whose emotional weight is more real on the studio album, and
The Rolling Stones,
which is my current favorite song of all time, and has been for over a year.
Sue me.
There are a couple other songs on here I'm just hearing for the first time, and
like all the Cameron Winter songs, it's been so fun diving into the lyrics.
Emperor XIII in Shades,
as I read into it, is all about how we live and enjoy our days with a total
ignorance to what made them possible.
It was a long day for Jesus
And a quiet night in California
If You Turn Back Now
has been harder to know the bigger meaning of, but I really ponder this part:
...the devil is real and he's living in Heaven
...but I belong to Him who gave me away
He has this weird way of tying religious themes into his music that sound
almost ironic, but I think that's the point. Diving into religious beliefs is
hard, uncomfortable, and vulnerable. You can hear this religious theme most
clearly on $0.
God is real, God is real
I'm not kidding, God is actually real
I'm not kidding this time
I think God is actually for real
God is real, God is actually real
God is real, I wouldn't joke about this
I'm not kidding this time
Anyways, TLDR here is Cameron's music is deeply nostalgic for me, reminds me of
the time when my daughter called anything related to him "Cam-Aid", and his
explosion in popularity recently makes that parasocial relationship even weirder.
Slacker Rap
I've got a theory where if there's anyone critically acclaimed, even if you're
not their biggest fan, you should go to their show. Lots of times they put on a
show that makes you appreciate their music in a new light.
That is what happened with me and
Earl Sweatshirt when I
saw him 2 weeks ago.
He's been around for a long time now, and has a similar arc to
Tyler, the Creator.
They both started with this deeply immature
"horror rap" type of music (both as
part of the same Odd Future
collective), and have evolved into making
conscious hip hop. Earl's
debut always reminds me
of when I made the switch from Pandora to Spotify, where I was like "wow, I can
listen to Chum
whenever I want?" He's been doing this for a long time.
His concert made me realize his music has evolved into his phase of fatherhood
now, so I connected with it more deeply.
↗
2025
Live Laugh Love
Earl Sweatshirt
abstract hip hopexperimental hip hop
This is his fatherhood album, as you can kinda tell by the cover and title.
It's full of off-kilter beats that sound extra trippy because Earl has this way
of rapping where his voice is slightly behind the beat, almost like he's
chasing it.
The project is 24 minutes, with an average song length of about 2 minutes, in
classic Earl fashion.
I love Gamma (need the <3)
and Live, mainly
for the production. They both layer on instruments that are "off" for the
majority of each musical measure, but come together at the end of each
measure. TOURMALINE
is the most lyrically focused on his transition to being a family man, and I
really like it as well.
His own dad died in 2018, who he had a complicated relationship with, so he brings
a lot of that into this album. It's a cool transition from the dark place he
was in for a long time after his passing to his own independence and deciding
how he was going to move forward.
After all the comparisons, I listened to
this album for
reference. First I should say Dylan is an absolute master across everything
he's done.
I had never heard this song, and it crushed me. I'm not a political person, but
I can't help but feel like its message is more apparent today than in the 60's.
It's told from the perspective of an innocent American, reaches its peak where
he questions everything, and ends in this really unsettled place with the state
of our country.
This album has got a
lot of acclaim this year, but it's so sparse that it's taken me a sec to warm
up to. This song
specifically has been an earworm, mainly because of the minimal instrumentation
and really cryptic, quirky lyrics. It sounds very
Kate Bush +
Clairo to me.
The UK dance punk scene (punky
delivery over club-friendly beats) seems to be blowing up this year. This album has been one of my favorites. It really wears
its influences on its sleeve
(Soulwax,
Underworld,
LCD Soundsystem)
almost to a fault. This track is veryThe Chemical Brothers
influenced.
Huge shoutout to Mark for the suggestion of this song. I need to get more into
this band and
album!
This is one of the most psychotic songs I may have ever heard. It starts tense
and quiet, and gets louder and louder almost to a breaking point. One of those
songs where I can't get my speakers loud enough.
The drums are like a pressure building in your head, and the seizure-like
vocals make it sound all the more cynical.
That's the desk this week. Reply and tell me what's on yours.
