Geese’s Cameron Winter has spoken to NME about his new eccentric debut solo album ‘Heavy Metallic’, opening up about his fearless Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen-inspired method. Test it out under together with new single ‘$0’.
The frontman of the former NME Cowl artist has introduced at the moment (November 19) the discharge of his first solo LP – a 10-track report that sees Winter embrace a novel sound influenced by the likes of Tom Waits and Bob Dylan and unleash his creativity with songs that discover chaos and existential dread.
Winter launched his first providing of the LP within the type of the tune ‘$0’ – a spiralling six-minute piano ballad with whimsical strings and brooding melancholy. “You’re making me really feel like a greenback in your hand / You’re making me really feel like I’m a zero greenback man,” he sings, confessing his discernment.
The monitor’s accompanying music video sees Winter sing the tune stay right into a microphone whereas feeding pigeons in NYC. Test it out under.
‘Heavy Metallic’ was produced by Loren Humphrey (Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey) who beforehand labored with Winter on Geese’s 2023 LP ‘3D Nation‘. “A 12 months in the past, I used to be impressed to make an album exterior of my band Geese; sadly for Geese followers, I believed it could take 4 months and it took a 12 months and a half,” mentioned Winter.
“I received a variety of recommendation that it was too early to ‘go solo’, in all probability as a result of most individuals really feel that ‘solo albums’ come as soon as a band is principally over the hill and that they’re often uninspired money grabs, however relaxation assured, my solo album is exclusive, as a result of barely anyone is aware of who my band is, I’m younger and never afraid of residing with my dad and mom and I’m free to chase no matter concepts I need.”
Winter has already shared two singles to mark his solo period within the type of ‘Vines’ and ‘Take It With You’ – which noticed him depart from Geese’s rowdy indie sound to one thing harking back to the likes of Leonard Cohen and Harry Nilsson.
On why he launched with these two tracks, Winter advised NME: “Properly, nothing’s excellent so far as indicators go. However I believed they had been first rate, type of easy songs. I needed the album to attempt in direction of one thing else.
“I figured that they’d truly be wonderful as singles reasonably than on the report. The report I type of see as its personal factor utterly.”
Take a look at our full interview under, the place the singer tells us in regards to the stress of diving right into a solo challenge whereas in the course of Geese’s jam-packed 12 months, his worry of the Bob Dylan renaissance and his course of of making one thing that lets him be uniquely himself.
NME: Hiya Cameron, why did now really feel like the proper time to department out right into a solo album?
Cameron Winter: “It’s truly a extremely inconvenient time for me to launch or create solo stuff. I did it as a result of I actually needed to. I’ve been making music on my own for so long as I’ve been making music with Geese, and I felt I wanted to do a solo album, and so I did.”
The title of your album is ‘Heavy Metallic’ which seems like the exact opposite of what the tracks are. How did you land on that identify?
“As soon as the album was finished, I used to be sifting by the lyrics to try to discover a identify for the album. For a very long time, I needed to call it one thing type of silly, like some reference to a Bob Dylan album or one thing like that. I need to name it like …”
Tarantula.
“Tarantula. Have you ever learn that e-book? It’s a chunk of shit.”
Sure, however I genuinely thought I used to be having a stroke 10 pages in as a result of I used to be like ‘I don’t know what I’m studying’.
“I’m terrified for the Bob Dylan renaissance that’s about to come back out from this Timotheé Chalamet film A Full Unknown. I watched the trailer the opposite day with this mixture of full horror and the data that I’m undoubtedly going to look at this film greater than as soon as. I’m excited and type of dreading it.
“However anyway, I used to be trying by the lyrics, and I got here throughout this line from the tune ‘Most cancers Of The Cranium’, the place I say heavy metallic, and I didn’t imply it within the style sense, however I believed it could be a humorous title.”
The album seems like an eclectic mix of ’70s people, Tom Waits, Dylan and Bizarre Al Yankovic. The place did the musical inspiration come from?
“Properly, I had a traumatic childhood, you understand, all that type of factor. I used to be concussed many occasions as a boy and I developed a love for Tom Waits and a passion for all these individuals that you simply’ve talked about. My love for Bizarre Al truly developed earlier than my love for any of these different individuals, so possibly that’s type of a foundational factor that has change into a part of the gradient of my references.
“That’s in addition to anybody may describe it. I typically am actually horrible at describing the stuff I make to anyone.”
Your entire work feels unapologetically your self. How do you as a songwriter sort out the artistic area freely with out acknowledging the pressures which will come?
“I like doing what I need to do, and ideally, I don’t care about what anybody expects or desires from me, but it surely’s not a hostile factor or something like that to me, and that’s what I believe is an enormous misunderstanding that always is had between me and the individuals who I work with or who hearken to the music.
“[The album] isn’t meant to be this contrarian factor. I used to be simply actually making an attempt to hearken to myself and what I like, and typically that leads you to locations which might be indirect or one thing like that. That was the case for this report, and I’m pleased with that. On reflection, lots of people appear to have this concept that I went in with the only real goal of constructing one thing as far-off from frequent sense and the present tradition as attainable, however I simply tried to do no matter excited me.
“A giant observe I received on this was that it’s ‘too heavy and also you’re going to scare individuals away’ and I don’t need it to scare individuals away. I really feel like once I hearken to Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen or these type of unhappy sacks, they’re extra depressed than I’m by an extended shot, however I by no means really feel like their songs are devoid of hope or something. I really feel like they’re very affirming to life.
“Life is miserable typically and as an alternative of making an attempt to keep away from speaking about or referencing miserable points of life, their model of uplifting is to look miserable issues useless within the face and that to me is more healthy and extra interesting than simply avoiding it.”
Is there a distinction between the way you go about creating in your solo work versus creating issues with Geese?
“Properly, some components are simpler and a few components are tougher. With Geese, while you’re engaged on full songs with a number of individuals, the songs themselves must have sure beats that everybody understands and is aware of and may revolve round whereas, once I was doing it myself, I might type of simply throw all that out the window. For Geese songs, I’m actually ready and for this, I used to be not ready, which made issues tougher.
“I used to be identical to, ‘I don’t have to show this stuff to anybody. I may simply determine it out alone and simply all it may all exist in my head,’ and led to one thing that was that’s a bit extra impressionistic, than a variety of the Geese stuff, which ended up being wonderful, however was additionally actually fucking disturbing. Plenty of these songs sucked for a very long time as a consequence of me not writing them earlier than I recorded them. There was a variety of reverse-engineering from identical to me banging on a piano. I needed to make the songs out of that and you’ll type of hear it on the report. All the things’s stitched collectively and type of bizarre.”
Is there something you realized about your self and the method of making your individual work that you simply plan to convey whereas engaged on the subsequent Geese challenge?
“A fuck ton. I explored a variety of stuff that I used to be going to discover on the subsequent Geese album, and I realized quite a bit about what to do and what to not do. It was actually disruptive to make this album with Geese’s schedule and the remainder of the band had been very supportive, however understandably antsy for me to get this shit finished.
“However in actuality, ending it and finishing it in a approach that I believed works, it’s going to make the third Geese album higher than it could have been, I’m certain.”
‘Heavy Metallic’ is being launched on the second night time of Geesefest. Will you be performing any of it stay at that present?
“Yeah, a bit. I’ll have some assist from three or 4 pals of mine who I’m in a band with.”
‘Heavy Metallic’ is Set for launch on December 6 by way of Partisan. You’ll be able to pre-order the album right here. This coincides with Geese’s “Geesefest” exhibits – a three-night run on the Music Corridor of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY. He may also carry out a solo set at Tomorrow By no means Is aware of pageant in Chicago on January 18 2025. Go to right here to buy tickets.
‘Heavy Metallic’ tracklist is:
1. ‘The Rolling Stones’
2. ‘Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed)’
3. ‘Love Takes Miles’
4. ‘Consuming Age’
5. ‘Most cancers of the Cranium’
6. ‘Strive As I Might’
7. ‘We’re Considering The Identical Factor’
8. ‘Nina In A Area Of Cops’
9. ‘$0’
10. ‘Can’t Hold Something’
