No one could accuse Winter People of not giving their absolute all on A Year At Sea. It's vast, it's varied and it's very impressive. The Sydney six-piece have been around for a few years now, but, taking their musical cues from Dappled Cities, The Panics and Boy & Bear, their melancholic, melodious nature has set them up with a lovely debut record.
For anyone who casually rests their radio dial on triple j, the sound of Winter People is probably familiar, even if it might not be instantly attributable to the band. They released their debut EP Gallows in 2011 and their first single Wishingbone in 2012. Both these songs, when they pop their charming heads up on A Year At Sea, will inspire classic 'Oh, these guys!' moments, but the deeper you go into the record the more impressed you'll be.
Winter People's nucleus is formed around singer-songwriter-producer-artwork designer Dylan Baskind, whose ambition is to be revered. Not content in playing his songs to intimate crowds (although there are moments that would fit wonderfully on stage in a quiet pub), with the songs of A Year At Sea he has created an album of large-scale, fully-formed epic pieces.
It means that, on scaled-back songs like Valley Hymn and Winter Coat, the tenderness of delivery is doubly effective. Haunting, desolate violin and acoustic guitar accompany Baskind's vocal, and refreshes the listener's ears throughout the record.
It will be interesting to see where Winter People go to from here. Will Baskind branch off on his own? Will the second-album blues hit hard? You'd hope not, because judging from the evidence present on A Year At Sea, Winter People could be huge.
