One of the ways I find new music is to go to the Soundcloud pages of labels of bands I like and see who else they have on their roster.<\/p>\n
And thus I have stumbled over Wintersleep<\/a>, who, like The Dirty Nil<\/a> (scrappy little band of my heart, Frozen North division), are Canadian and signed to Dine Alone Records<\/a>.<\/p>\n I am extremely late to the party – Wintersleep have been a band since 2001 and have won a Juno award! – but, you know, better late than not at all.<\/p>\n Their next record, The Great Detachment,<\/i> will be out March 4, and they’re stopping through SXSW later in the month. Here’s a three song sampler, featuring Amerika<\/i>, Santa Fe and Territory<\/i>.<\/p>\n All three songs are solid; I’m particularly partial to Amerika<\/i> because . . . because I feel like it’s been a really long time since I’ve heard song like this, a little bit anthemic, a little bit of sledgehammer running through the bottom. All I can tell you is I think I’ve listened to it five times in a row and I’m still a little bit confused by the lyrics, but I also mostly don’t care. I’m vibrating on their frequency and I like it.<\/p>\n I’m also especially fond of Territory<\/i>, which is a little bit lighter, tonally, than Amerika<\/i>, and is mostly a reminder to assert one’s authentic self: You’re not a factory. You’re not supposed to be, you’ve been told, the territory of anyone.<\/i><\/p>\n