Winter Shares Origins of New Song “the lonely girl”: Exclusive
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The post Winter Shares Origins of New Song “the lonely girl”: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
Welcome to Origins, a recurring series from Consequence that gives artists a place to break down everything that went into their latest release. Today, Winter takes listeners through “the lonely girl.”
Dream pop act Winter has debuted a new song titled “the lonely girl.” The track boasts tasteful ’90s nostalgia, nodding toward various styles of music popular from that decade.
The initial idea for the song came in the midst of a songwriting course with Phil Elverum (The Microphones, Mount Eerie), during which he proposed writing a song with two juxtaposed sections. The first half of the song mixes trip-hop and dream pop influences with spoken word-style vocals. Then, just before the two-minute mark, the song explodes into shoegaze fuzz and the vocals take a turn towards the melodic.
The artist born Samira Winter tells Consequence that the song was also inspired by the concept of “verticalization.” “Basically, if you were to conceptualize time in the shape of a spiral, whenever you got a memory or a feeling or even a whiff of an old perfume that took you back to a past moment, it’s as if you were being ‘verticalized’ to another point in the spiral of your life,” she explains.
The track arrives as the first new material from Winter since the release of her last album, 2022’s What Kind of Blue Are You? Winter has also announced two shows in April opening for Drop Nineteens in California. Get tickets here.
Listen to the new track “the lonely girl” below, and read on for Winter’s breakdown of the new song’s Origins.
Phil Elverum:
Phil Elverum, photo by Jeff Miller
“the lonely girl” was the first song I wrote after releasing my record What Kind of Blue Are You? I was feeling a bit stuck at the time writing-wise, still somewhat attached to the songs and album I had just released. I’m a big fan of The Microphones and decided to take a songwriting class with Phil Elverum. Even though I was visiting some family, I somehow ended up totally alone for four days or so in a little house in Montpellier, Vermont. It was so perfect, actually. I would listen to his lectures, which were so awe-inspiring, and write songs in my pajamas as I looked out into the soft snow.
The very first assignment was to write a song with a Haibun poem structure, which is this combination of prose and haiku that originated in Japan. In Elverum’s words, it’s “a chunk of prose, a simple little narrative or anecdote, followed by a very short poem like a haiku that loosely refers to the prose section but also cuts it all open with its fresh perspective. A slower set up and then a big decisive slash of insight, and then it’s over.” That prompt instigated the writing of this song!
Thirteen:
This movie really inspired me aesthetically and emotionally. The directing and cinematography are incredible. It depicts so accurately the rawness and complexity of what it can feel like to be a teenage girl troubled by heavy adult problems. It was definitely a north star for Jaxon Whittington and me as we made decisions about the script, wardrobe, and even the final coloring.
While writing the song, I tried to replay in my head my own version of Thirteen. Making myself the observer of my teenage self, as if I was watching a movie of my own life re-experiencing certain memories and feelings of sadness, angst, and isolation.
I wanted to find a girl for the video who was a mix of me and Tracy, the main character. I was subletting a room in Bed Stuy at the time, and I remember walking around the neighborhood passing by the church, the steps by the bus stop, and the park, and imagining this “lonely girl” character walking through all these places. One night, I went to watch a friend’s band play at The Broadway and there she was — “the girl” on stage playing bass! It was quite serendipitous.
“Justify My Love” by Madonna:
After writing a batch of songs, I went to play my new demos to my friend and producer Joo-Joo Ashworth. I had major butterflies in my stomach that night, which I always get showing anyone my demos, but especially then since it was the first time we were meeting up after releasing the album.
Per usual, we hung out in his living room and I played him the demo version of “the lonely girl.” He was really hyped about it and pulled up this Madonna song as a reference! She has this really cool way of delivering her spoken word style of singing in combination with the minimal drum machine. I also remember being in a big Dido phase as well.
Memory as a Spiral:
Photo by Stas Knop via Pexels
I was reading this book about the significance of the spiral symbol in different cultures and throughout history. One of the things that really stuck with me was this concept of “verticalization.” Basically, if you were to conceptualize time in the shape of a spiral, whenever you got a memory or a feeling or even a whiff of an old perfume that took you back to a past moment, it’s as if you were being “verticalized” to another point in the spiral of your life.
That really resonated with me, especially with the experience of writing this song. I felt a bit like I “verticalized” to my past teenage self and wrote this song for her. In the verse, I’m expressing her view and then in the chorus, I’m conversing with her now from the present. It was and still is an incredibly healing experience — which art has the power to be sometimes.
Winter Shares Origins of New Song “the lonely girl”: Exclusive
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