Winter Aid and the indie rock whimsy and artful disarray of "Silk" (Trippy Official Video)

 

"they come to the door and ask you which side you’re on / they tell you the time has come to sing..."

The indie rock whimsy and artful disarray of "Silk" by Winter Aid, the moniker of San Francisco-based, Irish songwriter Shane Culloty, feels at once grand in it's melancholia. There are pretty shapes to be had, piano lines that prance in grand ways but the sharp synths can feel distorted, even acidic but in a good way, in an art rock glitter punk way, in a way that sticks with you even days after you soak it in. The gold dipped framework here is perfect for Culloty's compelling vocal aesthetic that feels sort of sideways, emotionally graced with sad eyes and storytelling that might feel built out of toothpicks to close to a fire. Unique and magnetic, Winter Aid here offers the kind of artful sonics and words the stick with you. The abstractions make me think of an amalgam of artists like Wand, MGMT, RY X, Chelou.  

they’ll tell you they’re built
for a life of swagger and silk
for a life lived up to the hilt

but you’ll be the one they blame for the shame in their eyes 

If the poetry here feels bittersweet, it is because they are. "Silk" has a chorus but in each one the words differ. I like that. 

From LINER NOTES:

Discussing “Silk”, Culloty offers, “This song is musically one of the happiest I've ever written, but lyrically it's bitter. It was written in response to the feeling of having made it through 2020 - which is fading in memory now, but was fresh and raw at the time - and having seen the tumult and hope and passion, and brief flames of political optimism give way to a reassertion of the status quo.

Living in the Bay Area it seemed like it was all being invented in front of me, from political rallies in Richmond to canvassing in the Mission, giving way to the summer's marches against police violence and eventually, the election. I didn't set out to write a song about that feeling, but it made its way into the album nonetheless.”  

San Francisco-based, Irish songwriter Shane Culloty, aka Winter Aid, has announced his sophomore full-length album, "Pull The Sky Inside", for a May 17 release, sharing the first single from the record, “Silk,” along with an accompanying video by Dermot Lynskey.

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/15S89CUJtshT2P7WIa2M5l

https://soundcloud.com/winteraid

https://www.instagram.com/winter.aid

https://www.facebook.com/winteraid

https://twitter.com/winteraid

https://winteraid.bandcamp.com/

https://linktr.ee/winteraid


“WINTER AID IS AN IRISH MUSICIAN. HE LIVES IN DUBLIN. HE MOSTLY USES REAL INSTRUMENTS, AND TENDS TO RECORD AND WRITE SPORADICALLY…”

Shane Culloty is the man behind the mask of Winter Aid, a new music project from one of Kerry’s finest sons. Now based in Dublin, Shane started making music when he was a lad and over the last few years has cultivated a delicate and endearing style that is refreshingly un-self-conscious.

Written, recorded, mixed and at home (listen carefully and you can hear the sound of dishes being washed in the background to ‘The Wisp Sings’) his debut EP The Wisp Sings shines a little light on what is to come, featuring three tracks, each containing “a measure of the Irish winter” [State Magazine] underpinned by the sounds of a happy home.

In spring 2017, Winter Aid announced his latest work entitled 'The Murmur of the Land' - a full-length LP "The Murmur of the Land" - a delicate rumination on sadness and solace.

Winter Aid, has announced his sophomore full-length album, "Pull The Sky Inside", for a May 17 release, sharing the first single from the record, “Silk,” along with an accompanying video by Dermot Lynskey.

Winter Aid, indie rock, art rock, alt pop, art punk, whimsy, artful disarray, "Silk", singer songwriter, musician, Shane Culloty, Irishman in San Francisco, upcoming album "Pull The Sky Inside",