Winter Andrews On Voice, Acting, And A Debut EP

A voice can be an instrument, a mirror, and sometimes a battlefield. That’s the ground we cover with actor-singer Winter Andrews aka the “indie sorcerer”—as we trace how mimicry, rhythm, and empathy shaped both his acting and his music. 

From being moved by Regina Spektor’s allegory in Samson to discovering the strange peace inside Hozier’s Shrike, Winter opens up about the songs that taught him to hold big feelings without apology. We talk Chester Bennington’s quiet ache amid the roar, Imogen Heap’s ghostly minimalism, Dermot Kennedy’s raw folk energy, and Phoebe Bridgers’ gentle delivery of devastating stories. Then Jeff Buckley brings the hopeful melancholy that still lights the way.

With that map in hand, we step into Winter’s upcoming EP, Till the Moon Fades Away, and the world he built across four originals. Wildfires starts small and blooms into a cinematic swell, setting the promise that intimacy and grandeur will meet. The Lovers is a three-act love story threaded by one telling word—if—moving from yearning to union to elegy, with strings by Rob Moose amplifying the sweep of time. Babel rises from shame and self-loathing into a towering confession, a song years in the making that demanded the right vocal arc and tempo to match its storm. Across the Snow closes like the aftermath of hard nights, born through a character to reach truths that were too raw to face head-on.

If you love singer-songwriter storytelling, indie folk drama, cinematic ballads, and vocal-forward production, this conversation will hit home. 

Follow all things Winter Andrews on Instagram and TikTok (@ItsWinterAndrews)

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/winter-andrews-mix/pl.u-MJEGINqbr8

1. Samson - Regina Spektor

2. Shrike -  Hozier

3. Numb - LINKIN PARK

4. Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap

5. After Rain - Dermot Kennedy

6. Zombie - YUNGBLUD

7. You Missed My Heart - Phoebe Bridgers

8. Morning Theft - Jeff Buckley

9. Wildfires - Winter Andrews

10. The Lovers - Winter Andrews

11. Babel - Winter Andrews

12. Across the Snow - Winter Andrews

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
Welcome back to another super awesome mix.
My name is Matt Sithom, andtoday we're doing something
special as I will be hostingSolo and joined by our guest.
He is an actor you may have seenon Law and Order SVU and
Criminal Minds Evolution, aswell as the upcoming Hulu True
Crime offering Murdaw Murders.
But he's here because he's alsoa singer-songwriter, also known

(00:31):
as an indie sorcerer, who has anEP coming out next month titled
Till the Moon Fades Away.
Please welcome Winter Andrews tothe show.
Welcome, Winter.

SPEAKER_02 (00:40):
Hello, Matt.
I think I would like to beintroduced as an indie sorcerer
for every event from now on.
Like even if I'm doing like a QAor a red carpet or something, I
want that to be like my name tagand my title.

SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
I love that.
I saw that in something, and Iwas like, indie sorcerer.
I'm gonna call him that.

SPEAKER_02 (00:57):
That's I don't know where you saw that, and I don't
need to know.
It exists now solely in thismoment for me, and I am
thrilled.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05):
It's great.
It's great.
All right, so I gotta ask you,because I mean, you've done, I
mean, you've done the acting insome major, major roles, and and
now you're doing singing.
So what obviously you've beenpart of the arts probably your
whole life, right?
But like what came first?
What was drawn, what were youdrawn to first?

SPEAKER_02 (01:22):
You know, when I look back at it, because I've
asked myself this question too,like, what am I?
What what do I identify more as?
What started it?
And it they really both began atthe same time for me.
Um I think I I think they bothkind of came from the same
place, which was one, I was justlike a very emotional, sensitive
kid, but I was also a huge mimicgrowing up.

(01:43):
So I loved music, I loved thesegreat singers.
Like I would just be againimitating them all day long.
But the same thing was true oflike great acting performances,
you know.
So it's like I was equally movedby like Celine Dion and Green
Day as I was by like RobinWilliams, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 (02:05):
Um do you still do impressions or anything?
Do you find yourself doing thatat all?

SPEAKER_02 (02:10):
You know, it's it that's I kind of surprise myself
times sometimes because it's nota thing that I like actively
practice anymore because I feellike an impressionist is very
much its own thing, which I am Idon't identify as that.
And then sometimes like I'llI'll hear someone do something a
certain way, or I'll see acertain physicality or a
performance, and then I'm justlike, oh, what is that?
And I like tap into it again,and I and I'm like, oh, I am

(02:33):
pretty good at this.
Like, you know, it's like it Imean it's just it's just I I I
was reading somewhere about itbeing like kind of a thing with
like it being a reflection oflike you just your mirror
neurons firing, you know what Imean?
And like I've always that's justlike I've always been a very
visual learner, and like I if Isee someone do something, I can
kind of do it.
So it's I think it's just that,you know.

(02:53):
So it's not a skill I practice,but it's kind of sitting back
there, you know, and it helpsme.

SPEAKER_00 (02:58):
Well, it it's interesting because I've heard,
I mean, Dana Carvey who does alot of impressions, right?
Like he's talked about, and he'salso a drummer.
And so he's talked about howthere's when he thinks about
impressions, he thinks about arhythm to it.
So I was just kind of curiouswhen you said that, because
obviously you're a musician andyou're an actor.
So I just wondered if there waskind of that you're picking up
on rhythms with the way peopletalk, and that's what you're

(03:21):
kind of doing.

SPEAKER_02 (03:22):
100%.
You know, the way they it's it'srhythm, it's tonality, it's like
vocal placement, it's but theneven beyond that, it's like
there's a uh psychologicalaspect to it too.
Like you can kind of I guess soI guess it's also a reflection
of just like empathy orsomething where it's it you you
someone's point of view willinform your impression of them
as much as you know, their theiruh the and the anatomy of what

(03:46):
they're doing, you know.
Right, right.
Yeah, yeah.
And I and I think that's thatone certainly plays even more
into the acting, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (03:54):
So in regards to music, what was the first
instrument, or do you playmultiple instruments, or is it
just one, or what was your firstintro into music?
I do singing.

SPEAKER_02 (04:03):
Singing 100% for sure.
I think I think it's funny.
I like I love guitar.
I identify as at least asongwriting guitarist.
I think I think I'm compelling,I think I'm good, but it's like
I could never sit in on asession, you know what I mean?
Like, and I I'm so in awe ofthose who do.
And so I I feel it's funny, Ifeel bad about that sometimes.
I'm like, oh god, I wish I werebetter.

(04:24):
I wish I like did more piano.
I do I dabble on piano too, andI've recently been dabbling on
drums, but then I think back,I'm like, you know what?
I'm a pretty okay singer.
I'm doing all right.
But so singing, I think, isreally where it where it
started.

SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
I'd say you're a pretty good singer.
Were you always able to sing, orwas that something that you kind
of I mean, obviously you'regonna get better once you sort
of dedicate yourself to to acraft, but were you naturally
sort of a good singer?

SPEAKER_02 (04:52):
I think I I think I was, you know, to be to be
honest.
Um I I don't come from I don'tcome from a musical family in
terms of my parents, my sister,they're all that's my one
sibling.
Um they're all I'd say veryunmusical.
Not they're not like unlike mymy mom has you know, she'll sing
around the house constantly, butit's like she has no training
whatsoever.
Right, right.

(05:12):
My my dad has a actually both ofthem kind of have what you'd
consider large voices, you know,and so I think from that, just
like genetically, I kind of wasgiven like a bigger voice than
other people might have, yeah.
So that kind of combined thatkind of helps me stand out, I
think, or it did growing up.
Um, and then that combined withlike the mimicry and like

(05:32):
listen, like the singers I waslistening to just happen to be
great singers.
So it's like when I was likeseven in the boys' chorus, I
remember Dr.
Ackerly being like, and here heis, a rare case of a natural
vibrato.
Like, I don't know what thatmeans.

unknown (05:47):
You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
Yeah, you were just trying to sound like what you
had heard, right?

SPEAKER_01 (05:52):
It's exactly it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I I I think it's somethingthat is I I've always been
noticed for my voice.

SPEAKER_02 (05:59):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then I've spent a lot oftime uh uh working it.
It's it's I kind of on the topof like having a bigger voice,
it's been a it's kind of like ahefty monster to wrestle with,
and so it's I've had to reallylike beat it into like
flexibility, you know what Imean?

SPEAKER_00 (06:15):
Yeah, well, you've got some flexibility for sure.
And we'll get to your trackslater because I was I was pretty
blown away.
Uh but but let's get into it.
We we've got eight tracks herethat you brought as kind of
inspiration, and then we've gotfour tracks from your upcoming
EP that we're gonna go through.
So I'll just I'll just introducethem and then you can kind of
tell us a little bit uh abouteach one.

(06:36):
We could talk about it and justjust go from there.
So so track one, you pickedSamson by Regina Specter.
So talk about this one.
I thought it was a great openingtrack.

SPEAKER_02 (06:44):
Oh, phenomenal, great.
I was like, this could this isgonna go really well or really
poorly, right off the bat.
Um I love this song.
I'm gonna say that on all thesesongs.
I love this song so, so much.
I heard this for the first timewhen I was in college, and I
just had it on repeat for days,and I still will go days where I
just have it on loop.
I think it's just so beautifullywritten.

(07:08):
I think my favorite poeticdevice in writing is allegory,
and I feel like this is justlike the most pristine, gorgeous
example of it.
It's so intimate and raw, andyet so epic at the same time.
You know, it's like it it's sohaunting.
I feel like with allegory,especially in music for me, for

(07:32):
whatever reason, it's just it itso elevates what would otherwise
like feel like so mundane orbanal or something, you know,
about like just general life.
And it it feels like it matchesthe scale of our emotions in a
way.
Like I feel like our emotionsare much grander than maybe the
reality we're facing a lot oftimes, you know.

(07:52):
But I feel like that's when youhave this ability to like
lyrically connect those tosomething greater, it just it it
moves me in a way, you know.
And I like I said, I think thesong is like the most just
gorgeous example of that.

SPEAKER_00 (08:04):
Yeah, I uh I really enjoyed this one.
I mean, and just obviously itrefers to the story of Samson,
right?
Doesn't call out Delilah, but Imean that's that's the companion
there.
Absolutely.
And I just loved, and I thinkthis is true of your music and
and a lot of the songs that youbrought today, just the the
vocals kind of give you theemotion, right?

(08:26):
Instead of sometimes you listento a song and it's and it's the
instruments behind it.
But I think in the case of this,I think when I was listening to
your music and and some of theseother songs, it was that it was
just the voice that stood withme.
And obviously Regina Specter isamazing, but I I agree with you
on on just sort of the emotionalrange of this one.
Uh yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 (08:46):
And I I think I think you're right on the voice
too that I'm looking at a lot ofthese.
I I I do think, again, being ina singer first, it's kind of
where I where I go to, you know,like when I work with some
producers or things or musiciansI really love, they're they're
talking about the bass sign.
I'm like, oh, I didn't even hearit.
You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 (09:01):
Like um, I'm getting better at that.

SPEAKER_02 (09:05):
But but yeah, there's just uh I'm always
amazed when like not I don'tneed a song to be super sparse
in this one all the time, butI'm always amazed when it can
be, and yet you are still socompletely captivated and move
that just the singer's deliveryand their performance and their
like nuance is just so theirconnection, you know, it's so um

(09:27):
captivating, and this is justthat to like uh the superlative
degree, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (09:33):
I agree, I agree.
Now, speaking of emotion, thisnext one, this next one got me.
Uh this is Shrike by Josier.

SPEAKER_02 (09:40):
Mm-hmm.
Uh once again, just I guess thisone's not allegorical.
It's there's nothing likebiblical or about you know, gods
or things or or mythic figures,which his his songs often have.
There's so many of songs of histhat I could have or would have
picked, but sure.
But I feel like this one doesn'tget enough love, and it's one

(10:01):
that I listen to all the time,you know.
Um but for those who don't knowthis song, it's uh it's kind of
based around the metaphor, um,or the metaphor within it is
that uh he's had this love thathas fallen apart um and it's
effectively annihilated him,it's destroyed him.
Um her her cruelty or whatever,his, I believe it's hers.

(10:24):
Um could be a man, I don't wantto be a misogynist here.
Um based on personal experience,you're gonna say her.
Exactly, yes, yes.
So her her, you know, cruelty orvolatility has has just like so
eroded him to where it's he'sstill in love with her, but he's

(10:45):
like died and had to leave itbehind.
And it's like he's just wishingto come back as uh something
that can make use of hercruelty, something that can live
in harmony with it.
So a shrike in nature is thisbird that uh will kill its prey
and then mount them on thorns toattract a lover.

(11:06):
And so the the big uh lyric inthe song, you know, uh, like
basically is that I hope I'mreborn as the shrike to your
sharp and glorious thorn.
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 (11:20):
Yeah, and what a way, I mean, Jesus, shrikes
really uh they're like theAttila the Huns of birds, huh?
I mean, what is what is that?

SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
No, I know I had no idea.
Then you look it up, it's likethe sweetest looking bird.

SPEAKER_00 (11:33):
Yeah, they're not big birds, I don't think.

SPEAKER_02 (11:36):
Yeah, I think the main photo of it, like at least
I think on Genius at least,there's a photo of a shrike, and
it's like very cute bird, andlike an equally cute and sized
bird just impaled on a thornnext to it, you know?

SPEAKER_01 (11:49):
It's like wow, wow, that what amazing backdrop for
an incredible song, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (11:54):
Yeah, I think it's funny.
It's like this is how we'regonna keep our species going,
right?
We're gonna randomly killsomething and then attract a
mate as a result of that.
Yeah.
Um, but this song, yeah, thissong was it it really
interesting.
And I and I kind of, when Ilistened to it, I sort of
thought that obviously therelationship had gone wrong, but

(12:15):
I almost thought she was the onedying now, and he kind of was
going through these sort ofregrets of like this is he's
never gonna have that momentwhere like things are good or
there's there's no opportunityfor redemption.
But you're right, when youbrought in the reincarnation,
because there are thosereincarnation call-outs that he
has in there, so I'm like, whenI heard you say it, I'm like,

(12:36):
yeah, maybe it is more likethat.
But in any case, it's it's Imean, obviously his voice is
beautiful, and it's a greatsong, like all his stuff is, you
know, but it's just I it was areally cool song.
I think it can go in a lot ofdifferent directions, but
there's definitely an element ofregret of of how this
relationship went.

SPEAKER_02 (12:51):
Oh, 100%.
I I also love like musically init, just like the the guitar is
so it's beautiful, it's likehaunting, it's but it's kind of
wistful.
There's something, there'sthere's a pleasantness in it.
It's not just pain, you knowwhat I mean?
It's like it it I don't know, soit uh I just like that

(13:14):
juxtaposition, you know.
This this could have been a muchangrier sounding song, but
instead it sounds like he'salmost at peace with the death
of this relationship, you know,or or whatever interpretation,
you know.

SPEAKER_00 (13:25):
Right, yeah.
However it goes, I I think thereis that there is an element of
that.
Yeah, it's a really it's areally interesting song, too.
I think it's one that you canlisten to three, four, five
times and kind of get somethingnew every time, you know.
I completely agree.
And I love music like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Um, okay, now this next one,after I listened to the whole
mix, including your songs, andthen I went back through it

(13:45):
again.
This one was like, this was acurveball for me.
Okay.

SPEAKER_06 (13:49):
So track three.

SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
Track three, you've gotten numb by Lincoln Park.

SPEAKER_02 (13:54):
No, I know.
I know, I know.
I I and there's a very specificreason for that, and that's that
I feel like I these really arekind of songs of like angst and
yearning and things thatinspired me very much.
So, and I feel like I cannotpossibly make a list of songs

(14:14):
like that without includingLincoln Park that was so
inspirational to me as a kid,and like gave me so much uh
again.
I talked about like uh I thinkwith Samson, how like allegory
like kind of gives um I don'tknow, it it it validates the
size of your emotions, you knowwhat I mean?
Or like uh the scale of them,and I feel like as a kid, I had

(14:36):
a lot of anger and a lot ofsensitivity, and then I listened
to Lincoln Park and it's likeah, it all makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 (14:46):
Um yeah, so and and to be fair, I could have picked
many Lincoln Park songs here.

SPEAKER_02 (14:52):
This was this was kind of like a we'll go with
numb, you know what I mean?
Like type thing at the end.
But I I also, funny enough, Idon't think anyone would pick it
out in my music, but there's alot of Lincoln Park
production-wise that actually Isneak into my stuff.
And maybe not as much in thethings I've released thus far,
but in things that are comingout more.

(15:13):
It's not you're not gonna hearit and go, that's a Lincoln Park
song.
But it's just like it'ssomething that lives in me in a
way that I can't get away from,you know.

SPEAKER_00 (15:22):
That's really cool.
I love that.
I mean, and that's I I love thatthere's just sort of elements in
there with sort of what you do.
And I I mean I like the song.
I didn't think it was a badchoice, but as I'm going through
it, I'm like, no, where doesthis fit in?
I'm gonna have to dig in alittle bit on this one.
But that's like, I know for megrowing up, my older sister was
into like way into heavy metal.

(15:43):
Sure.
So I listened to a lot of heavymetal and and like hairband kind
of stuff as that evolved.
Like, I mean, I think I'mprobably significantly older
than you.
So this we're talking about likeearly mid 80s type stuff, right?
Sure.
Um, now I don't listen to anyheavy metal, but still every now
and then a song will come on,and I'm like, this is pretty
cool.
And I think it is sort of thatsort of element uh like what

(16:04):
you're talking about, just sortof sprinkles through of my life
a little bit because of that.

SPEAKER_02 (16:08):
Totally.
Yeah, well, 100%.
It's one of those things that'slike you feel like you've gotten
away from, and then like yousaid, you hear it again, you go,
Oh wait, this is a part of mesomewhere.
Yeah, yeah.
Um, and I do think too, goingback to just like vocalists and
and you know, kind of thishaunting quality that someone
has that draws you in.
I do feel like Chester also isthat like I don't I don't really
enjoy most metal or things inthis genre, yet his voice just

(16:34):
despite you know his his likevirtuosity, his range, his power
screaming, like that no one cancan match, he still has this
like there's just this intimateyearning in the quiet parts that
I feel like that I do feel likeyou hear more obviously my
music.
Not that I'm not that someoneagain, you're never gonna hear
me and go, that's Jester, youknow.
Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 (16:54):
But but no, I I hear what you're saying.
I I think that's what made themstand out amongst other bands of
that era, right?
Was like his vocals in the sameway that like a Stephen Jenkins
of Third Eye Blind, right?
Like that's the differentiatorfor a band like that.
Or like when you listen to Blink182, they can actually bring a
lot of emotion to their music orthings like that.

(17:14):
It's just it's that vocalistsometimes that's the
differentiator between like aband just being a touring band
for decades and being like amega huge band, you know?
100%.
Yeah, it's the thing that'sgonna move like the heart the
most, you know?
Yeah.
All right, track four.
This is hide and seek by ImogeneHeap.

(17:34):
Yes, a return of the form of theplaylist.
Okay, now this one tracks alittle more, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (17:40):
Right, right, right.
Yeah, this one I first heard inhigh school when I was in choir.
Like the the seniors, like everyyear the seniors would do like a
senior number, and like peoplecould pick stuff and they do
things, and uh someone did thissong, and I don't know if it was
good.
Those harmonies are hard, youknow what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
I don't remember, but I do remember just being so
I shook, moved, stirred by thisthing.

SPEAKER_02 (18:10):
I'd never heard anything like it, you know?
And like my again, my I don'tcome from a musical family, so
it was just kind of likewhatever was on the pop was on
the radio, right, you know,growing up, um, and occasionally
some classic rock, but this songjust like woke me up, you know,
um, and I just listened to itendlessly, and I was so confused

(18:32):
by it for so long.
I feel like that's that is athread for me and music that I
love or music that inspires me,is like I feel like it's so
beautiful in your move, but youdon't know why.
You know, you can't put you likeI can't wrap my head around
what's happening or what's goingon or what this means, but
you're just grappling with thisthing for a long time.

(18:52):
And so this this song just Ifeel like I've grappled with for
so long, and and just I I can'tget away from it, and I feel
like I'm always referencing itin anything I do.
I know it's basically just avocoder, so there's not much to
reference, but still.

SPEAKER_00 (19:06):
Yeah, but I'm with you.
It's like this is very much asong, the first time you hear
it, it's a what am I listeningto sort of reaction, but you
want to keep listening to it,and I can't even imagine someone
trying to recreate it.
So I don't know how that went inthe uh chorus there.

SPEAKER_01 (19:24):
No, totally.
Um no, and it was I was not likeit at arts high school.
These are pretty normal, normalkids, you know what I mean.
Um so uh God be with them, umwhatever they believe in.

SPEAKER_02 (19:35):
Um but I mean, just uh talking about like grappling
with it, you know, I I had atotally different interpretation
of this song.
I think when I was younger Ididn't know what it was about,
and as I got older, I'm like,oh, I feel like this is like
kind of just grappling with thealienation like at the end of a
relationship.
And then literally last night Iwas finally like looking it up
again, and I was like, oh, thisis quite literally about her

(19:59):
parents' divorce.
And all these lyrics that wereso right?
I know they were like some ofthese lines were so nebulous,
but but moving before are stilljust as moving and still have
this incredible uh mysteriousquality to them, but it's like,
oh, now I actually am followingthe through line of the story
even more, and I was just likeweeping last night, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
Yeah, I you know, yeah, because I in my head I was
like it it almost felt likesomebody had died.
And because the song has such anethereal quality to it with the
production and the voices, likeit's almost like ghostly.
Like that's what kept cominginto my mind as I'm listening to
it.

SPEAKER_02 (20:36):
Yes, I think that's that's a perfect word for it.
I mean, because I think I lovethe word ethereal, and I use
that a lot of for a lot.
A lot of the stuff I love isethereal, but I think you're
right, ghostly in this oneparticular.
There's just this it's haunted,it's haunting, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (20:48):
It's yeah.
Um But divorce, if you're a kid,probably does feel like that.
You know, my parents didn't getdivorced.
I mean, yeah, no, same.

SPEAKER_02 (20:57):
I I I'm very yeah, we're very lucky in that.
Yeah.
Um But uh I mean, just like Ithink it's I think the song is
just truly a masterpiece.
Like I I don't mean that like ina way it's like it's showing
off, but it's just like I waslistening to uh a podcast with
Tony Berg yesterday, or like aclip came up with him.
He's he's one of Phoebe Bridgerslike main producers, also
producing for like Somber and abunch of I mean he's huge.

(21:19):
Um but he was talking about likewhat actually is a masterpiece
of a song, and he was sayingthat it's something that like
that stays on through time,basically, right?
It's timeless, but also it'ssomething that like feels like
it teaches people, like peoplenot not necessarily about life,
but like that people getinspired by, you know.
And I feel like this song isjust like we're all quoting this

(21:43):
song.
It is just it's such amasterpiece, you know.
And and even like lyrically,like I I just wrote down this
one line.
I mean, this is out of context,but the takeover, the sweeping
and sensitivity of this stilllife.
Just let's just pull that out oflike the actual framework of
like a divorce and just likeapply that to like modern life,

(22:05):
yeah.
The sweeping and sensitivity ofthis still life.
I'm like, my god, like just thisone small line is like still so
prophetic and like would be thebest line in anyone else's best
song.
And yet it's just one small partof this incredible piece, you
know?

SPEAKER_00 (22:22):
Yeah.
No, I I totally agree.
And I mean, I I love thatdescription of a masterpiece
being timeless because you do,if if you listen to the song,
you know, like if I played foryou some Duran Duran, you'd be
like, this was 1985, right?
Right.
Yeah, exactly.
It's like, whereas this, it'slike you're not thinking about a
certain year or time or place.

(22:43):
It's again just thinking aboutwhere did this come from, you
know?
And I think at any point anyonehears it, they might think it's
from the future, like whateveryear they're in.

SPEAKER_02 (22:52):
So yeah, I completely agree.

SPEAKER_00 (22:54):
Yeah.
Um, all right, track five,you've got After Rain by Dermot
Kennedy.
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 (23:03):
As I've said with all these, I love this song.
This was this was again a songthat I feel like woke me up in a
way.
This one was more recent.
I think it's one of the mostrecent ones on here.
Yeah.
Um I so again, kind of talkingabout this, like, like I said
with numb, it's like you havethese parts of yourself that
feel disconnected or something.

(23:23):
And so I was going through aphase of my life when I was
first really getting into folkmusic, I think, where I'd kind
of let go or I I had lost touchof like I guess my angst for
lack of a better word, you know,or my my kind of raw passion or
anger or things.
And I was just listening to likea lot of like basically like
folk pop, and I and I liked it,I loved it, but anytime I tried

(23:46):
to kind of write something, thiswas when I was first starting to
write music, it it just feltflat to me.
It felt untrue in some way, youknow.
I felt like I was puttingsomething on, you know, and then
I heard this song and I heardDermot Kennedy, and it was just
like the light went off.
It's like, oh, you can have folkand you can have this like

(24:09):
really intimate, sparse thing,but you can also have it like
you know, imbued with thisfucking passion, this rage, you
know, and and this this be therecan be beauty in that.
And so this this to me, like Isaid, just just really like I
felt like it like opened my mindand like it this huge corner
that I was able to like suddenlyexplore, and I think is uh a
really affected, inspired a lotof my music.

SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
This is the song that did that.
That's really cool.
So when you sit down and you'relike, okay, I think I'm gonna
start writing music, right?
I mean, do you do you kind ofsit there and go, well, I I
guess I'll write something likeand you've got a song in your
head that you're almost tryingto replicate, or did it just
start, had you written poetrybefore that?

(24:52):
Like what I don't know, what ledto su I didn't I've never sat
down and written a song writtena song, so that's totally I
asked the question.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (24:59):
I think I have always loved writing.
I think I've always been awriter.
Um that's something that I thatI like.
I mean, growing up, teachers arealways like, you have a gift,
like you should really dosomething with like your
writing, you know.
Um and so I think more thananything else, like well, I
guess like acting too, but likeit was always like writing,
acting, and music were theplaces where I felt like I I

(25:20):
just I just had a knack forsomething, you know, and that
people seemed to recognize.
But so I've always been awriter, I've always loved
writing, and I do do poetry, butlike songwriting often felt like
a bridge too far to me untileventually when I was like in
college, I started like reallypicking up guitar.
And it was like it was a veryquiet, private thing.
Like it wasn't I wasn't like I'mgonna go start a band and like

(25:42):
perform for people, but it wasjust like I think I saw I saw
videos of like Jeff Buckley andMatt Corby, and I'm like, oh my
god, I have to do this.
You know, it was just it it justmoved, it woke something up in
me.
But so all that to say, allthese things kind of combined to
where I was like then playingguitar quietly to myself, and
then it just evolved right outof that.
So it's like anytime I'm sittingdown with my guitar, I'm usually

(26:05):
not learning someone else's songor trying to sing someone else's
song.
I'm just kind of messing around,and then something compelling
pops out, and then I feel likelike lyrics or melody just like
like insists upon coming out,and then I just kind of start
humming or mumbling, and I'd I'msmart enough now, like I've
learned just like throw on myvoice recorder because you may
not be able to repeat something.
Right.
But then I often just end upgoing for like 10 minutes, and

(26:31):
and many times two-thirds of thesong comes out in that, you
know.
If I I I can try to get headywith stuff, but I find 90% of
the time the times when thingsreally feel like they're working
is when like it just I just keptplaying and singing and
something came out that justworked, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (26:50):
Yeah, you just kind of let it evolve a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 (26:53):
Yeah, exactly.
And so and I I think that goingback to After Rain, I think I
think when I was just trying tolike when I again I was first
starting this, like during whenI was into folk pop, it was like
I think I was a bit more in myhead about it.
Whereas I heard him, and I'mlike, oh, I can just be like
unbridled, I can just let it go.

(27:13):
And then suddenly like I'm likeyelling more when I'm like
making stuff up, and like Isaid, and then suddenly things
like open up when we're working,you know.

SPEAKER_00 (27:20):
Yeah, no, that's really cool.
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, a very emotional song,and I think it it is a a pretty
good direct line, as we'll getto your songs here in a bit, and
and I think it it it that doeskind of make sense, so yeah.
Um all right, track six, you'vegot The Zombie by Youngblood.

SPEAKER_01 (27:38):
It's so good.

SPEAKER_02 (27:40):
It's just so good, dude.
Once again, this one's like abit of a curveball compared to
the other stuff on here.
I think I think it connects morethan numb, but I was like, okay,
I can't just have numb.
I feel like I need somethingelse that has a bit more of this
like modern angst, you know, butstill has a uh this one's not
haunting as much, but again, hisvoice just pulls you in.
There's a pain, but it doesn'tfeel like metal or something

(28:04):
where it's like so in your face,you know.
It's it's there's avulnerability in it, I guess
what I'm saying.
And and a grandeur, you know,like in the strings and the way
he's he's singing.
So I I I think this is kind ofwhy I picked this one, is I'm
drawn to both vulnerability andgrandeur.
And I think this song just doesthat so well.

(28:25):
I mean, it's just so good.
Like if you haven't listened toit, it's new.
Oh my god, like you will notstop listening to it.
I have a feeling, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (28:32):
It's it's really good.
And what I what I was soimpressed by is that if you
strip out the vocals, and we'vetalked a lot today about vocals,
right?
If you strip out the vocals, itit's got kind of like you could
put some happy lyrics to this,and it's a completely different
song.
Totally.
And it's his vocals that kind oftake it in the direction that it
that it goes when you listen toit.

(28:52):
But I I was so impressed bythat, you know, and and you said
at the top, like your maininstrument is your voice, and I
think this is a good example ofanother artist who does that
because again, it's it's not themusic.
The music becomes, I don't wantto say a distraction, but it's
like if you only focus on that,it's like this might just sound
like a pop song.

SPEAKER_02 (29:11):
No, exactly.
100%.
I love that duality.
I love when people just exactlylike you said, it's like you
have something that soundshappy, and then you're sing the
saddest lyrics of your life overit.
You know, I so you know, some ofsome of my songs, I don't think
I have ones that are out thatquite do that yet, but like some
of my things do that.
I just I just love that device.
It's like it I feel like that'slife too, you know.

(29:32):
It's gray, it's twisted, it'sit's like I like Phoebe
Bridgers, I feel like does thatall the time, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (29:38):
Um, I think this next song is a perfect example
of it.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
It's a good transition becausethis next thing is You Missed My
Heart by Phoebe Bridgers.
And you talk about a sweetsounding song that is anything
but I mean, this is it.

SPEAKER_02 (29:53):
God, I know it's devastating.
So so this for the people don'tknow this, this is like I think
it's the last track on herdebut.
Album, Strangers in the Alps,and it's it's actually a cover
of an artist named Um, I thinkMark Kozleck.
I'm probably butchering his lastname.
Um but for those who haven'tlistened to it, it's this like
six-minute long ballad.
That's if if you're listening toWinter Andrews, six-minute long

(30:15):
ballads are not unfamiliar.

SPEAKER_01 (30:20):
Short by my standards.

SPEAKER_02 (30:22):
Um but it's it's this it's based on this dream
that Mark had, and and hebasically transcribed it, and
it's this incredible story withthis like stunning through line
that that's this lyric, Youmissed my heart, which which has
different meanings uh in eachverse and chorus, but it's still

(30:44):
so tethered and connected inthis this it's just so moving.
Like I said, it's it's it's kindof like the voice, it's
something that just pulls youin.
I feel like I am I'm stuckthere, just like, oh my god,
what happens next?
You know, like both vocally andand the the story itself.

SPEAKER_00 (31:01):
Yeah, this was like this is like an episode of
Dateline, right?
Like if you listen to this, Imean it really is.
That's this song.

SPEAKER_01 (31:09):
That's so good.

SPEAKER_00 (31:10):
But then when you listen to it, it's just her
voice is so beautiful, and it'sjust if you're not paying
attention, you will just belike, what a what a beautiful
song, or whatever.
And then you really dig into it,and it's just like, oh my gosh,
like this is dark.
Yeah, it's so dark.

SPEAKER_02 (31:25):
No, I and I I but it's like you said, it's just so
it's so beautiful.
I I love dark and beautiful, ifthat's not abundantly clear.
Um I you know what's what'sfunny to this, I guess this uh
this one's not exactly aboutthis song.
Uh it is to a degree, but like Ihave to share this moment.
I was in the car uh with my momrecently.

(31:46):
We were going up to like themountain, I was like visiting
home.
We're like going up to themountains, and so like we're
just driving up together, andshe doesn't listen to Phoebe
Bridgers, you know, she's justlike whatever's like I said,
whatever's on pop radio, andright it's like nighttime, like
in the forest.
And I was like, I'm gonna can Iplay this album?
She's like, sure, you know, andshe's never a person who like
listens to lyrics or things.

(32:07):
I mean, she does sometimes, butum, she's you know, usually got
her phone doing a bunch ofthings at once, and just
throughout the album, she wasjust transfixed listening, and I
just kept her like hearing herjust go, wow, like at certain
lyrics, you know, in certainmoments.
It's like that was so magic forme that to like have the

(32:28):
experienced my mom, you knowwhat I mean?
Yeah, yeah.
And like this song came on, andshe was just like, this one does
connect up, but she was justsitting like same thing, like
what happens next, like just sotransfixed by the story and the
delivery.
It's just so again, stirring,haunting.

SPEAKER_00 (32:43):
These are my favorite words, but it's so
applicable here.
I love that.
I love that scene, especiallybecause I I love introducing
people to music.
Obviously, that's what's part ofthe reason we do this show, and
and you know, getting people toreally listen and and kind of be
like, no, no, no, you're gonnajust just stay with it or
whatever.
Right, exactly, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (33:01):
Wait, wait, wait, we're right there.
Wait, don't do now.
Oh my god, you missed the bestline.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (33:05):
I'm not asking you to watch eight seasons of blue
bloods, okay?
I just want you to listen to asix-minute song.
Hang in there.

SPEAKER_01 (33:12):
Right.
But then I will keep playing thenext six seasons.
Yeah, no, no, you're right.
It's a full example.
It's a full example.

SPEAKER_00 (33:19):
But still, still, yeah.
All right, so your last pickthat is not your song, and I'm
so glad this guy made it onhere.
It is Morning Theft by JeffBuckley.
Jeff Buckley, my prince, myheart.

SPEAKER_02 (33:32):
I I just like I said, Jeff is like the the guy
who made me go, I have to beplaying guitar.
Like it it just so moved me thatyou could make a sound like
that.
I mean, that's that's so dumbsounding, but it but it's just
again talk about haunting.

(33:53):
He's like he's he's this figurethat I like can't get away from,
you know.
Um and again, uh talking aboutmysterious too, and like
wrapping your head aroundthings.
I cannot tell you how many timesI've listened to all of his
stuff, Grace and you know, this,this and his live at Sheena, all
these things.
And I still feel like every timeI am completely like

(34:14):
rediscovering the song, themusic, his voice, the delivery,
everything.
And and um I feel like gr like Ikind of said with like Shrike
with Hosier, it's like I feellike he all his other songs have
plenty of uh uh you know, peopleare very familiar with his other
work, but I feel like this songdoesn't get enough phrase.

(34:35):
Like I feel like if this were onGrace, it would have been
considered one of his bestsongs, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (34:39):
I I hadn't heard this song actually before uh you
put it on this mix, so it'sreally and I mean listened to it
a few times already, but yeah, Imean the lyric that just stands
out at the end, it's I miss mybeautiful friend, I had to send
it away to bring us back again.
I think that's such a great lineabout being apart, whether
you're apart physically oremotionally, and then coming

(35:00):
back together.
Like, I think that's so great,and it's true, like being apart
actually kind of will eitherlike make it easy to break up in
a relationship or actually makethe relationship stronger.
100% agree.

SPEAKER_02 (35:13):
Yeah, that's that's funny that you called up that
line.
It's like that's actually theone line that like I'm like, I
want that Jeff Buckley tattoo.
That's the one I'm gonna have.
I already have like that's solike you, so I guess let's get
the tattoo together.
There we go.

SPEAKER_06 (35:25):
Let's do it, let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 (35:28):
Yeah, but it's like like again, lyrically though, I
I love this song so much.
And I also like kind of talkingabout like we did with with
Zombie, especially once it getsgoing in the back half, it's
just the the music is so umuplifting's the wrong word.
That sounds like I'm talkingabout a church.
Um there's I don't know, there'sjust something uh happy, dry,

(35:49):
like it feels like you're goingtowards something better, you
know?
Yeah, it's hopeful.
Yeah, it's hopeful, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 (35:56):
Wow.

SPEAKER_01 (35:57):
Could have just gone there.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (35:58):
We really should work together more, I feel like.
Yeah, 30 minutes in.
I think this is gonna workreally well.

SPEAKER_01 (36:04):
Yeah, I think so too.

SPEAKER_02 (36:06):
Um yeah, it's so it's just it's it's one of the
few times I feel like I hearJeff being hopeful, but it's
it's yeah, this just again, it'sthis haunting lyric.
I'm sorry I've said that word somany times.
I said I said at the beginningof this podcast before he hopped
on.
I'm like, I'm gonna swear a lot.
I don't think I've sworn much,but I've said the word haunting
like 17 times.
So let's just censor.

(36:26):
I think it's accurate.
I'll beep it out.
I'll make it perfect.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (36:30):
People will be like, I don't even think that makes
sense.
Does that he say the F-wordthere?
I don't why didn't they bleepthe other one?
Makes sense.
Um all right, well, let's getinto your music.
So I'm really excited aboutthis.
Obviously, this is what kind ofuh brought us together was we
were sent some of your music andI dug into it and I was like,

(36:51):
this is this is good stuff.
Um so you the first track youbring in here, and these are all
on your upcoming EP, which comesout I think November 21st,
correct?
That's correct.
You got it.
I got right, I got it right.
We got the notes right.
Um, so the first track we'regonna talk about is Wildfires.

SPEAKER_02 (37:40):
Yes.
So this is the uh this is thefirst song on the track.
Um sorry, on the on the EP.
Um this is one that I felt likewas a very nice way to kind of
set the tone of the EP.
It starts out, the first half isI think more intimate, more
sparse, and I think hopefullydraws you into the story a bit,

(38:03):
and then it builds and builds,and suddenly you're you're kind
of hit with this um just morebombastic, climactic.
There's this there's this breakwhere it's like there's like a
snap, you know?
Um and I feel like I said, Ifeel like that like sets the
tone for for what I wanted forthis to be.
It's like you are gonna be drawninto story, you're there's gonna

(38:25):
be some surprises, there's gonnabe like big builds, there's
gonna be again this likeclimactic, huge grandeur or
anger, you know, and then it'sgonna come back away and pull
back into like this mist, youknow.

SPEAKER_00 (38:41):
Yeah, I think this one was this was probably the
closest to and maybe why it'sthe first one.
So like kind of more of a lovesong of the ones instead of the
range of emotions I think we getfrom some of these other songs.
So um, and I love the the calland repeat part kind of in the
middle.
I thought that was really welldone and and kind of starts to

(39:02):
kind of pick things up a littlebit.
It's really it's reallyinteresting, and I'm and I'm
glad it's kind of the firsttrack because I think it works
well, especially as you gothrough these other tracks,
because it really is.
Did you set out to create sortof a because nowadays I feel
like artists are just puttingout one song?
And I kind of love when artistsare like, I'm putting together

(39:25):
an album or a beginning and amiddle and an end, which this
felt like, but I don't want tomake any assumptions.
So so did you kind of seek to dothat a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 (39:34):
That is 100% what I saw to do it.
I'm actually so glad that's likethe first thing you're saying
about.
I'm like, okay, good, someonegets it, you know.
You know, um that's that'srelieving for me to hear.
Yeah, 100%.
I, you know, again, this this isthis is the actor in me, this is
the writer in me.
Like I'm very drawn to story,you know, I'm very drawn to an
an arc, you know.

(39:54):
Um and and like you said tospeak, like it is an arc of
beginning, middle, and end.
And this CP to me is reallygiving you spoiler I've been
said this anything before, butit's really like I consider it
like half of my first album.
Like it's so this this is kindof it's setting the tone, it's
establishing some like motifslike lyrically.
There there's that is somethingI'm kind of pulling from like

(40:17):
the world of like maybe like astage player or something, or or
yeah, like act one.
Yeah, exactly.
Is like there there's kind ofcertain recurring um characters
in a way or metaphors, there'slike certain lyrical elements
that that you will seethroughout and that I think
become clearer when the rest ofthe songs are out.
I I think it it builds enough ofthe the world right now that

(40:40):
you're you're kind of seeingyou're seeing the shape of it
from the CP, but I feel likewhen the other half is out,
you'll go, oh, this is the worldhe's built.
You know, so but all that tosay, yes, it was very
intentional that like I am I'mvery much trying to build an
experience in the world and andnot just an experience, I feel
like that like an experiencesounds very corporate to me, you
know.

SPEAKER_00 (40:58):
Like I say this because like I I we're gonna
launch a soda along with the CP.

SPEAKER_02 (41:05):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Um I say this as a person who'sspent plenty of time like
catering in restaurants, likedoing fine dining, and you just
always to them, we are buildingan experience for our guests.
And it's like, dude, you'remaking fucking food.
Like, you know, like they'regonna sit down and have dinner,
and you don't need to like allthe buzzwords.

SPEAKER_01 (41:25):
So this I don't mean that in the buzzword sentence.

SPEAKER_00 (41:27):
They can't they can't price it as high if they
don't call it an experience,right?

SPEAKER_01 (41:30):
Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (41:31):
So I I I wasn't trying to do that to get
listeners, I was doing thatbecause it was just sincerely
what I wanted to do is is is tobuild this world, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (41:39):
No, I I think it's cool, and I don't think enough
artists do that nowadays.
And I very much, you know, uhlongtime listeners of this show
will know I'm a I'm a massiveBruce Springsteen fan, and
that's what that's whatSpringsteen did with a lot of
his albums.
Um I always call out Tunnel ofLove, which was the follow-up to
Born in the USA, which is verymuch like the beginning, middle,
and end of a relationship,right?

(42:00):
And it kind of takes you throughfrom, and that's you know, like
a 12-song album that that hedid, and it was a completely
different direction from Born inthe USA, which is which is not
that, right?
Right.
Um, but it was very intentionalin that sense.
And so I don't know, I I love itwhen artists do that, and I love
listening to whole albums likethat.
And so I I just thought it wascool, and I was like, well, I I

(42:22):
hope that was the intent.
Either way, I'm gonna listen toit this way, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (42:25):
Well, great, great.
No, like I said, messagereceived.
I'm I'm perfect, perfect, thankGod.

SPEAKER_00 (42:32):
All right, so continuing on, okay, track 10
here, your second song from YuriPete, it is The Lovers.

SPEAKER_05 (42:40):
But if I could pull the dirt from the ground And
spin us to go I'd weave youshiny And if I'm the bee of my

(43:05):
heart sign I would give you mylove You could wear it like a
cry Yes Um so you were speakingof like uh wildfires being a

(43:26):
romantic love song.

SPEAKER_02 (43:27):
This this one is is certainly the most romantic one
on the ch on the EP.
You know, a lot of my other onesare are quite angsty, you know,
for for lack of a better word.
Um but this one and this one uhif we actually get into the
lyrics, it it's it gets there.
But um this came about when Iwas kind of in the middle of,

(43:49):
I'd just say like a veryunfulfilling relationship, you
know.
And talking about songwritingbefore, like coming from like
this quiet place for me whereit's very private, and it's like
stuff just kind of comes out.
This kind of emerged like as avery private moment in that
time.
And I think it was inretrospect, it's like, oh, this
is me like really like wantingsomething like beautiful and

(44:12):
true and deep and like thatfeels faded, you know what I
mean?
Because what I'm in right now isis certainly not that, you know.
Um so this song itself is uhkind of a story in three acts
too.
It it it kind of uh representslike a relationship over the
course of a lifetime, basically.
Um I wanted to have kind of likea timeless feel, like you don't

(44:34):
know if this is happening in thefucking 1500s or you know, now
or the future or when.
Um and so the first verse andchorus is kind of like they call
it unrequited love and like kindof like childlike yearning, you
know, adolescent yearning, youknow.
And then the next verse andchorus kind of represent like uh

(44:56):
I guess like the consummation ofthat love, you know, it's it's
it's coming together, basically.
Um uh and then the the bridge tome is really which is like where
the strings come in, and that'sRob Moose Plan, who's the the
violinist for like PhoebeBridgers and everyone.
He's my favorite musician of theplanet, and I'm so so glad he
was gamed for my to work on mystuff.
Um but so where the strings kindof take over there, that to me

(45:19):
like really represents like thepassage of time, aging,
basically.
And then the last one is becauseI can't write a I can't just
write a happy song, it's gottabe sad.
It kind of represents like thedeath of the lover, you know
what I mean?
Yeah, um but it's but it's it'sall uh packaged in this kind of
wistful thing.
So I I don't necessarily needsomeone to listen to it and go,

(45:40):
oh, I get this story, you knowwhat I mean?
It's not like a a book report orsomething, but yeah, yeah.
Um but that was the inspirationwith it.

SPEAKER_00 (45:47):
Well, you know, and it's interesting to hear you
describe it as unfulfillingbecause the word that I kind of
hooked onto in this was if youwrote these like kind of
beautiful lines and then it waslike if, and I was like, Well,
that's interesting.
I wonder if this is like thisisn't actually going on.
Yeah, and so that's so if youtake away that word or you

(46:08):
overlook it, it is like yousaid, it's a kind of a
straight-ahead, like very likelove song, and kind of tells a
story, and obviously, you know,it gets a little more emotional
there at the end, but uh it's itwas that word that kind of I
stuck to, and I was like, Idon't know if this is as happy a
relationship as we think.
And so hearing you say it was uhborn of this unfulfilling

(46:29):
relationship, I was like, ah,that's it, that's it, I knew it.
That's so that's so fun.

SPEAKER_02 (46:34):
I I love I've you know, I've never heard someone
pick up on that.
I think you're you're so right,it really is.
It's like, oh god, yeah, the ifis really what makes this whole
thing a fantasy, you know?

SPEAKER_00 (46:44):
Yeah, it's aspirational, like you're in
this, you're in this relation.
You're obviously in thisrelationship, the character in
the song, but I'm like, right,it's not it's not great.
It's a there's a little bit,there's something off here.
And so you say it was born ofthis unfulfilling relation.
I don't know.
I think good job.
Totally.
I mean, really.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 (47:02):
Thank you.
It's good writing.
Thank you.
I I will say too, because thatkind of makes me think, um I
feel like there is something,there is there's kind of this
element of like fantasy and mythin a lot of my music.
I guess that's what I'm tryingto say.
Um and I'm tapping into that.
And this one has some of thoselike lyrical elements, but there

(47:25):
will be even more you know,motifs, uh lyrical motifs that
that I do think tie very muchinto this like feeling of
powerlessness and wrestling withfate in a way.
So but uh which I feel like thethe this song starts to get at a
little bit, in that the story ofthe song is a person who feels

(47:46):
especially in that first verse,you hear it, um, like implying
this person doesn't have thefacility to actually make this
this relationship with thisperson work.
Yeah, you know, um it's like ifI could do these things for you,
if I possibly could, but I am sopowerless against fate and time
and the odds and the gods,everything.
And so I all have to say, Ithink that is an element that is

(48:06):
present.
You'll see more of that in mymusic.

SPEAKER_00 (48:09):
Very cool, very cool.
All right, track 11, and this isthe track that I think was
initially sent to us that I waslike, I've got to talk to this
person.
This is this is fable.
This is Babble.
Talk to me about this one.

SPEAKER_02 (49:13):
This one is very much about, I'd say, shame.
You know, it's about like shame,infidelity, pride, uh
self-loathing.
Ugh.
Um but i it came from a place inmy life when I I was just very
lost, not proud of myself, um,and I had these huge, huge

(49:37):
feelings.
You know what I mean?
Like I don't mean to like makefun of that, but um I guess I am
making fun of it.
Um But all I had to say, I I waswriting guitar, and this the
kind of that intro part justcame out on its own, and it was
like, okay, I have to dosomething with this, and then I
think writing is kind of likebecomes my diary in a way, and
then then some of the poeticlanguage becomes a way to hide

(50:00):
what I'm really feeling or whatI'm really trying to say.
But I think this was this wasjust very much a reflection of
that time.
Um, and so it's just kind oflike if you haven't listened to
it, it's it's like I said, it'sabout infidelity and pride and
regret and shame, but it's kindof taken to this like Macbethian
level of grandeur and darkness,you know, it just keeps building
and building and building, andit's uh it's really about like

(50:20):
the destruction of self, youknow.

SPEAKER_00 (50:22):
So when you are this is my question, yeah, and maybe
this is the actor in you thatmakes this happen, but when
you're recording a song likethis, like in the studio,
because I imagine performing itlive, you you can feed off the
crowd a little bit or somethinglike that.
But sure, when you're in thestudio and trying to record
something like this, and to me,listening to it, it feels so
emotional.

(50:43):
And you know, your voice isgoing to these different places.
When you're just in the studiorecording this, how do you do
that multiple times?
Or was this one take and this ishow you did it?

SPEAKER_02 (50:56):
No, God, this this was so I'll be honest, this one
in the lovers were so hard torecord.
Funny enough.
They like like you're sayingit's like it's it sounds like it
could be one take type thing.
That's what I I I set out for,you know, but I kept trying to
do that, and it just wasn't itgoes so many places, the tempos
change, all these things.
It's like how do if I were justdoing it alone, I could, you

(51:17):
know, but once you want to addthese other elements, you really
need more structure in there,you know.
Um, but so all I had to say, itwas a fucking beast to record.
It really was.
It was it was probably uh like ayear and a half working on this
song, and and I'm gonna mentionlovers with it too, like where I
feel like I spent 70% of my timeat the EP, like working on these

(51:39):
two things, just chiseling away,adjusting the teming, the
timing, the tempo, all thesethings, and then redoing vocal
takes that new tempo, um, liketrying so many different
harmonies and and versions ofit, like and also like even the
the vocal delivery, like yousaid, it's so emotional, but it
took me a long time to findthat.
I think this was the song I wasactually most scared of when I

(52:01):
first started recording this EP.
It's it's one that I sent to theuh producers who were
co-producing this with me aslike one of it was an option,
but it was one I thought theywouldn't pick, and then they
were like, you have to do thisone.
I was like, Oh shit.

SPEAKER_01 (52:16):
You know what I mean?
It was kind of that moment.

SPEAKER_00 (52:19):
Yeah, like I think it's it's a it's a great song,
but I think also I'm sittingthere listening to it, like, how
do you do something like this,right?
Like that was so like and so itis interesting to hear.
Do you find yourself?
Because obviously this is areally personal story for you,
yeah, but in that journey whereyou're talking about it took you
a year plus to put thistogether, right?

(52:39):
Are you finding new emotionsfrom that same event during that
time?

SPEAKER_02 (52:44):
100%.
And it and it becomes about morethan just that one event, you
know, and that's what I kind ofrealized too, looking back, is
like it's this wasn't just aboutthat one event, you know.
This was about so much more.
Um, and and so it's like, okay,this song actually has come to
mean much more to me uh in thattime.
And I feel like this is a songthat will probably change with

(53:06):
me through life, you know.
Yeah.
Um but yeah, I mean, like youwere talking about like uh you
say a year and a half, so Ithat's how long it took me to
produce it.
Like I wrote this thing likefive years ago or six years.
It's one of the first songs Iever wrote, you know what I
mean?
Um like I don't know how thathappened, you know.
Um but but it did, and so like Isaid, I was so scared of it, and

(53:27):
it was something that like ittook me so long to even figure
out how to sing what I'dwritten.

SPEAKER_00 (53:32):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (53:32):
Yeah, not not only in the production of it, like
getting all that right, but itwas like, okay, now how do I
actually build this arc out?
Because I think before I waswhen I first started writing, it
was like I was well, I didn'thave the chorus at first, it was
like just the verse and thepre-chorse or kind of the song.
But it's missing something.
It's I kind of thought thepre-course was the chorus.
Yeah.
The why am I so fickle in lovepart?
And it's like, no, there's wehave to arrive to something

(53:54):
here.
And eventually that that thattook like three years for that
part to come out.
But when I first started doingit, I was just like just belting
it the entire time.
And I'm like, well, this isn't Idon't want to listen to just me
yelling this long.
You know what I mean?
It's not that's not pulling youin, that's not the story, that's
not taking you to emotionalplaces, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (54:13):
Totally, totally agree.
I think that's really, reallycool to see the evolution
because again, it feels complexwhile while you're listening to
it, right?
And so it's really interestingto hear that story behind it.
Now, speaking of like, becauseyou said you wrote this five
years ago, it took you like, youknow, it all kind of came out,
then it's like, how's thistranslate?
Your last track, and this is thelast track on the EP after the

(54:33):
snow.

(55:14):
This one felt like bad nightwith your partner, and this is
the result of that.
Is that where this came from?
Or talk about this one?
Yes, I'd say uh many bad nights,you know.

SPEAKER_02 (55:29):
Respectfully, you know, I uh still still love this
person dearly, genuinely, um,and I care about them very much.
But uh yeah, the you know, it'sfunny.
This is one that actually cameabout in a weird way.
It was uh so uh a movie I haddone uh called The Mystery of
Her.

(55:50):
Um this is like five also fiveyears ago or something, but uh
the director and I like reallyhit it off and we kind of
started working on anotherproject, like something about a
singer-songwriter, basically,that it never fully took root,
but I actually wrote this songfor that, for this character in
it.
Oh wow.

(56:10):
Which which you you know younever hear that and go, oh, this
this isn't him, this isn't hisperspective.
But in retrospect, I'm likeokay, I was using that as a way
to to just write about what Iwas really feeling and give
myself permission to go to aplace lyrically, emotionally,
melodically, everything that I Imaybe wouldn't have otherwise.
And and as a result, this songthat's kind of so fucking big,

(56:35):
you know, yeah came out of that.
Whereas otherwise I'd I I mayhave just if I wasn't given that
opportunity, I I may have beenwriting quieter things, you
know, but it just this one justbuilds and builds and builds and
gets more grand and epic andyeah.

SPEAKER_00 (56:50):
That's really cool.
No, I I love the genesis of thatbecause again, I think people
are gonna this is like a perfectsong for like kind of post-fight
with in a relationship, right?
Like this is all the emotions ofsomething like that.
Um so it's it's really welldone, but I think that's really
cool how it kind of you'reright, kind of channeled through

(57:11):
this this character.
I mean, that's that's so often,I think, what I you know, I tell
people all the time when they'rekind of learning, when they're
scared of public speaking,right?
I kind of tell them, like, well,just go up there and pretend
you're someone else.
Yeah, play a character, right?
And I know like that I'm nottrying to say acting is easy or
anything like that.
Like, you don't have to be agood actor.

(57:32):
I'm just saying, like, giveyourself the courage by just
pretending you're not evenyourself, like you're this other
person.
And so I think when you saidthat, that's immediately what
popped into my head is like,yes, it's it's just play that
character, but yes, all thepersonal stuff will come out
through that.

SPEAKER_02 (57:49):
Exactly.
You've nailed it completely.
Yeah.
And I th I think that's been onthat note, that's actually been
a huge gateway with the CP justinto music for me, is because
acting is so like my dad oncesaid to me, he's like, I feel
like you'll go, you'll go actanywhere, any time.
Like someone hands you a script,you'll go bust it right there,

(58:10):
but you will not go sing at anytime.
You're so like protective overthat.
And I was like, You're right.
And I've I thought I've stillgrappled it for a long time.
It's it's it's a much moreprivate thing to me, basically.
Yeah.
But so acting is so comfortablefor me, and and becoming
something else is verycomfortable for me.
That you're so right.
It it's been this gateway for meto to sneak in, you know?

(58:34):
Yeah.
Um and that's something thatthat's uh I think uh true of the
EP and and eventually thegreater album as a whole.
You know, I talk again aboutthese like story motifs and
lyrical motifs and things, andit's like I do think in
retrospect, I was moved by thoseideas and am moved by those
ideas, but I also think it waslike kind of a a way for me to

(58:56):
sneak in.
It's like, okay, it isn't aboutme, this is about the moon, you
know, and this is about thesefigures that control our fates
or something as opposed to me.
I don't I don't have to fullystep into exposure in a way,
right?

SPEAKER_00 (59:12):
That is so cool.
Um well man, thank you so muchfor coming on the show.
Um the EP is called Till theMoon Fades Away.
It comes out November 21st.
Um, so you're gonna want to goand check that out.
And also, uh, you've got theHulu, is it a show or a movie?
The Murdoch Death.

SPEAKER_02 (59:30):
Yeah, it's it's a miniseries.
It's a miniseries, okay.
Yeah, Murdoch Death and theFamily.
It's out, I think right now thefirst three episodes are out.
I've got this this one, I've gota very small part in, but I
think it's memorable.
Um, but yeah, yeah, go check itout.
It's I mean, it's a really coolshow if you're in a true crime,
then I'm sure you probablyalready know about it.

SPEAKER_00 (59:46):
Excellent.
Yes.
Yeah, no, I definitely thinkit'll be on my wife's watch list
for sure.
Uh so I'll I'll be checking itout as well.
So where uh and then where canpeople find more about you,
whether it's your music or whereyou're acting or anything like
that.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:01):
Yeah, I mean Instagram is probably the best
place.
I am at It's Winter Andrews.
I have like a few things onTikTok and I will very shortly
be having a lot more.
I've been so busy this year.
Like I did a movie in Murdochand finishing my EP and now it's
like, okay, now I finally havetime to like go and you know do
the the the reels and the tick,you know, all the all the social

(01:00:22):
media things that I've been yeahhiding from, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:27):
Awesome.
All right.
Well everybody go and follow himand check out the EP when that
comes out we'll be sure to uhget links to everything in the
show notes and uh get the wordout there as much as we can to
support you and uh maybe we'llhave you back on once the full
album comes back on.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:43):
I would love that.
Thank you so much Matt this isgreat.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:45):
No, thank you.
And so we'll get to work on ournext mix.
So for winter this is Matt andwe'll see you next time