đ¶
December is such a tragically dead month for new releases that itâs a rare gift to get an album this fucking good this late in the year. My friend Marcos sent me a link to Heavy Metal out of the blue a few days after it was released â I donât always listen to what he sends me, and he knows that, but Iâm so glad I went into this with a clear mind and open heart. Itâs been ages since a first listen of an album hit me this hard.
Lyrically Heavy Metal feels like what I always wanted from Dan Bejar but never quite got, and musically it almost feels like John Cale tried to rerecord Paris 1919 from memory with a single microphone and a cracked Ableton rip. Or something like that? Mostly, it feels like a wholly original statement that canât be contained, like someone finally letting go of any inhibition and confessing every private insecurity without fear. His lyrics teeter from darkly hilarious (âlike Brian Jones I was born to swimâ) to bizarrely visceral romanticism (âyou were born to break my big hairy football arms/like clean windows kill birdsâ) while regularly returning to the ultimate questions life has to offer: love, desire, purpose, God, you name it. Itâs self deprecating without being self indulgent and immensely wise without ever feeling like an intellectual exercise.
Itâs an album that feels like too rich of a body of work to even properly engage with on the first several listens. Winterâs emotionality is so deep, so personal and so bizarre that it becomes universal â so relatable yet so exaggerated and disjointed that it borders on psychological horror. Iâm going to be picking up on new things within these songs for a long time to come, and I suspect this album will stand out to me as one of the absolute best when I look back at the year.Â
Dec 30, 2024
Related Recs
Not for everyone, but Iâve been listening non-stop. Sadness, remorse, nostalgia, inner turmoil all in one quick album. Iâve been doing a lot of driving in silence & reflecting on life to this album.
Feb 10, 2025
Discovering an album that you cannot. stop. listening to at the end of an era (literally, the end of the year) always feel like it holds a deeper meaning or purpose in your life than those you happen upon in the midst of a season. This album found me as I am entering an entire year of being single, an entire year of being out of college, beginning therapy, and beginning a path towards completely changing my life by moving to a new country. Winter's amateur-ish yet incredibly passionate vocals bring life to humorous, hallucinatory, and anecdotal lyrics. On top of this, the instrumentation ranges from folksy to eclectic, reminiscent of post-punk bands like Black Country, New Road, while maintaining a more whimsical air on the project entirely. This album makes me laugh and cry and feel and yearn. Listen to this in 2025
"GOD IS REAL GOD IS REAL IM NOT KIDDING GOD IS ACTUALLY REAL IM NOT KIDDING THIS TIME I THINK GOD IS ACTUALLY FOR REAL GOD IS REAL GOD IS ACTUALLY REAL GOD IS REAL I WOULDNT JOKE ABOUT THIS IM NOT KIDDING THIS TIME" -$0
Dec 31, 2024
craaaaaazy question to ask me specifically because now I will never shut the fuck up
I first came into contact with this album in 2022 or 2023 because its final and titular track was featured in the end credits of an episode of Girls. It immediately became one of my all-time favorites. Both gut-wrenching and hopeful, the song's narrator reminisces on a previous emotionally dark time for them, a time when they were grieving and trying to hold onto things they couldn't keep (underweight, in the street, hot with grief). The hope in this song, which takes the breath out of my lungs, lies in both the crucial past tense of these feelings and in the final lines, 'get well soon, get well soon / I was once just like you.' This has become a sort of mantra for me. Tucek takes something you would see on a kitschy greeting card and turns it into a plea for recovery.
Unfortunately, it took me months to sit down and actually listen to the full album in late winter 2024. It happened very much by accident. I was itching to hear something new and thought, well, at some point I should check out the rest of this artist's work, considering this is one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time. I never expected it to be such a work. I figured someone else would've sang its praises by now if it was going to change my life (which is why I adore this ask, because I think we all have an album like this, or at least we all should). The albums contains stories of grief, regret, dissatisfaction, bad fathers, and ultimately Moving On with a capital M. The track order is perfection. My other favorite song from this album is The Fireman. Somehow it is able to invoke in me feelings I've never experienced as someone whose father was not an absent asshole. The Doctor is a beautiful song about wanting to surgically excise the negative aspects of us that we get from our parents. Things Left Behind is great for thinking about death. Wooden has a perfect guitar solo.
This album is unique, fleshed-out metaphors with mostly a handful of acoustic instruments and an excellent voice. I would change nothing about it. I plan on tattooing the cover on my body because I want it to be a permanent part of my skin.
I might have to write more on this. Transcendent album. if you like Weyes Blood, Angel Olson, Aimee Mann, you will enjoy this. If grief is as constant to you as breathing you will enjoy this. If you're mad at your dad you will enjoy this.
Get well soon (and I mean it)! xoxo
Oct 22, 2024
Top Recs from @clarke
â
âUsing the social media app feels like a slower, less chaotic, and more intimate version of twitter. Youâre prompted to answer questions like âwhat did you read last week?â and a small group of friends chime in. Thereâs no algorithms or popularity contests.â
round of applause for tyler
Feb 6, 2024
đ€
âi woke up on a 747 flying through some stock footage of heavenâ
Feb 9, 2024
â
positive reframing
Feb 1, 2024