Released: 2024
Genres: Singer-Songwriter; Chamber Folk; Americana; Soul
The Musiquarium’s Heavy Metal Review Score: 9 out of 10
Following Geese’s 2023 breakthrough album 3D Country, frontman and vocalist Cameron Winter has released his solo debut album, Heavy Metal, which is anything but — instead, this is a sublime (yet somewhat twisted) collection of singer-songwriter contemporary folk, in the vein of some of his heroes, like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.
On the opening track The Rolling Stones, Winter compares himself to the titular band’s Brian Jones, a self-destructive artist who burnt-out fast, but brightly. The yearning love of Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed) references the aforementioned character from Homer’s Odyssey, who is perhaps some feeling that Winter is chasing, but unable to quite grasp onto.
Love Takes Miles is a Rolling Stones-coded love song, bringing back the soft, country-adjacent early seventies sound that ran through much of Geese’s 3D Country. Drinking Age is a sparse piano ballad with some strings and other delicate sounds that contrast Winter’s baritone voice and self-loathing lyrics. The disturbingly-titled Cancer of the Skull contrasts with the cheerful sound of its music. Try as I May has Winter singing falsetto against electric piano.
We’re Thinking the Same Thing implements some strings and is coded with early Velvet Underground. A beautiful chaos saturates Nina + Field of Cops. Winter’s self-loathing reaches its pinnacle on $0, where he laments of how the subject of his affection makes him feel absolutely worthless, like a “$0 man”, but can still find salvation in God. The soulful closer, Can’t Keep Anything, has a weird, contradictory, cynical optimism to it.
Like on Geese’s 3D Country, Cameron Winter’s vocals may make or break one’s enjoyment of this music, but even then, the rich and vibrant instrumentation should be enough to warrant a listen and may even be enough to convince you of the artistry and versatility of Winter’s admittedly unique voice. Like a lot of singer-songwriters, the lyrics on Heavy Metal can come off as pretentious, even verging on pseudo-poetic, but for those who see Winter’s vision, they will find much to unearth with Heavy Metal.
For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Cameron Winter on Discogs.
Back to the 2024 Album Guide or the Cameron Winter Reviews page.
Written by Brett Nippard
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