Hot off the release of the ep "Jacqueline", and collaborations with Sean Buckley "Revelation" and Greencircles "Shelly Gold", Ollie Winder keeps up the pace with a stunning new three track ep "Heart Shaped Tambourines".
With a voice eerily familiar, yet confident and refreshingly new at the same time, Ollie is singularly connected with the musical and cultural experience of Madchester, that many of us can still remember being a part of today! His musical kaleidoscope reminds us of where we have been, while at the same time pointing us forward in new directions.
The ep opens with Manchester You're My Heaven, a bombastic swirling love letter of uptempo jangly riffs and a solid beat, that could easily have you out on the floor on any late night. Beyond being an incredibly catchy vibe, the song brings us on a lyrical tour of a city front and center in the lexicon of indie music. Ollie's lush lyrics; "your face is a work of art like the angel in my dream" gives flesh and form to the mythical image of the mecca that is Manchester!
Candy Floss Girl follows the opener, and dials back the tempo ever so, to envelop us in Ollie's sundrenched lyrical vocal harmony; "Your my candy floss girl, oh you are my world". Creating an ethereal soundscape of shoegazing rhythm guitar riffs, the song holds the unbounding promise that comes from new love, however fleeting it may sometimes be.
The ep closes fittingly with Memory Lane, a song filled with bittersweet love and loss, "I took a trip down memory lane lookin for someone to blame, there's only you". Ollie's tambourine takes the lead from the opening, keeping time on the beat, while backing up the haunting guitar riffs, and Ollie's complex vocal arrangement. The memory fades away into a feedback laden guitar fuzz outro, leaving us wanting more, and feeling somehow it was all the stuff of dreams.
Overall the beauty of Heart Shaped Tambourines rests in the sublime perfection of the songs, and the cultural context they provide to indie music today. While the scene is arguably stronger and more diverse than ever, it's relevance exists in the music it creates, and the emotion it conjures. Ollie Winder and his tambourine have carved out a unique space in Northern indie, imprinting his signature vocal style across a scene seemingly ready to explode again!
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