HYLI Vol. XCVI - Cameron Winter and Vemod
More newish music: Andy sends Patrick some Norwegian black metal and Patrick sends Andy some NYC, idk, "art rock"/"orchestral pop" stuff
Hey gang. We’re back with some 2025 HYLI. Let’s fucking go. We intended to come back last week but then my (Patrick, of course) wife and I decided we’re going to buy a new house and had to go to a lot of appointments for that and then said wife and child of mine both decided to get sick so here we are now a week later. Y’all have kids? Kids in daycare? They just stay getting fucking sick constantly huh (Andy: it never ends). My daughter’s cold went away and then she came home today with RSV and a dual-ear infection. Fuck is up with that!! She’ll be fine. The trade-off with kids getting sick constantly is that they’re resilient little fuckers so I’m sure by this time next week she’ll be onto the next cold. C'est la vie. Let’s get into the tunes. Have a good week and, as always, Hope You Like This Bull Crap.
Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal
Patrick: So, I like Cameron’s band Geese (no, not that one) quite a bit and think their most recent album, 2023’s 3D Country, is some very cool post-punk. However, I didn’t know he had this in him. This album dropped right in the cusp of List Season last year so I didn’t rush to check it out and then the host of my favorite TV podcast The Watch (CR Heads sound off in the replies) compared this to “a Smog record with Harry Nilsson production” and I immediately checked it out.
This thing fucking rules man. If Cameron dropped it earlier in the year, it absolutely would have made my EOTY list, as meaningless as that is. That being said, the random mid-December drop is also very cool. Like, List Season is meaningless, nothing puts a finer point on that than one of the better albums of the year coming out up to a month after most blogs dropped their lists like bozos.
The music. Where to begin? There is so much going on here. We got some horns, flutes, keys, all types of strings … I have the suspicion these are largely software instruments and my man wasn’t holed up in Abbey Road but who the fuck cares, it sounds awesome. People made what seemed like a concerted effort to lose their minds when it was revealed MJ Lenderman was like 23 or whatever when Boat Songs dropped and, like, yeah man … it’s an album that is great but sounds like it came from someone who was like five or whatever when Magnolia Electric Co. dropped. How is a 22-year-old making a Scott Walker-ass record?? (Andy: Mayhem were 19 when they made Deathcrush) Insane.
“Try as I May” reminds me of what Arctic Monkeys swung for with Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino but, whether that album works for you or not, in a slightly more palatable sense. I think that’s solely due to the timbre and character of Winter’s voice. You’re either going to buy in or you’re going to sell (Andy: will always buy into a wacko). I will take all the stock in this dude my grubby little paws can get a hold of. Dude also layers vocals in a way that I cannot really compare to anything else. There are like five vocal tracks at the end of opener, “The Rolling Stones” (lol), that all seemingly compete for your ears at that same time. I cannot think of anything that sounds like that. It feels like a movie that’s mixed improperly where characters are talking over another but, like, in a good way.
“Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed)” and “Love Takes Miles” remind me of the kind of bops, forgive me, Gainsbourg was so good at. “$0” and its refrain of “God is real, I’m not kidding, god is actually real, I’m not kidding this time, god is actually for real” is insane and shouldn’t work at all but the melody is so good that it absolutely hits (Andy: perfectly said tbh). “Can’t Keep Anything” is probably the most straightforward track here and it feels like it was ripped right out of the aforementioned Stones’ playbook of “Wild Horses” and “Angie”-type ballads. I absolutely love this thing. I’m a fan of the kid and have been for a few years but I had no clue he had this in him. Instantly feels like a classic. Hope You Like It.
Andy: Let’s get this straight—this is false advertising at its finest. There isn’t a trace of heavy metal anywhere on this record. Honestly, the FBI should investigate (Patrick: you got got, eat this L, loser).
With that out of the way, Cameron Winter’s (not) Heavy Metal isn’t all that bad. I’m giving myself a pat on the back for personal growth! It didn’t stick in my head as much as Merce Lemon did the other week, but I enjoyed it while it was playing.
His vocals are interesting enough to keep me (a psychopath) engaged, yet chill and normal enough to avoid sounding like a total freak (Patrick: you sure about that?). Actually he does sound like a total freak but in a great way (Patrick: okay there we go). He throws in some unconventional noises and wails here and there, and it all works. Once you accept that his voice simply is what it is, this album absolutely rules. I don’t know if I’ve been Stockholm Syndrome-d, but I feel like Winter could ramble about anything, and it would still feel poetic.
Heavy Metal emits a strong feeling of helplessness. At its core, it feels frantic yet sluggish (positive). He plays with some fun instruments, so it isn’t just an acoustic guitar, which is appreciated. There are some wacky noises here (also a positive) that feel both in place and out of place simultaneously. He experiments a bit with abstraction in both composition and delivery—and thank Satan for it (Patrick: normal). "Drinking Age" is brutal and a bit silly at the same time. The album oozes character.
Without spoiling next week, I don’t think I would have appreciated this album as much if Patrick had sent it to me a month ago. I’ve opened myself up to a new way of appreciating this style of music (Patrick: i love you so much, brother). You’re welcome! Thanks, I enjoyed it.
Vemod - The Deepening
Andy: I always find an album that would have made my end-of-the-year list immediately after posting—it’s just tradition at this point (Patrick: same, brother). This year’s loser/winner was Vemod’s sophomore effort, The Deepening: classic atmospheric black metal from Norway.
It has been a minute since I’ve been hypnotized by black metal. I’m not sure if it’s because 2024 was a weird year for music, because I’m growing as a human, or because I just haven’t found the right album. Vemod were nice enough to pull me back into black metal’s icy grip—it helps (significantly) that it basically sounds like an Agalloch tribute album (Patrick: I didn’t peg this listening but you’re totally right).
I don’t think The Deepening does anything new or particularly exciting—but what it does do is play atmospheric black metal very, very well. It double-ticks all the boxes for an atmospheric black metal album. It’s long and sometimes feels repetitive—but that is always part of the charm with this genre for me. It becomes meditative. It’s also helped by the fact that it’s stunningly beautiful and intentional. “Inn I Lysande Natt” could be right off an Agalloch or early Ulvar record. The title track is a great encapsulation of positive, folk-inspired atmospheric black metal—a perfect sampler of the style.
Black metal is so good. I’ve missed it. The Deepening isn’t breaking any new ground but it is scratching that never ending itch for me. Hope You Like It.
Patrick: I think I agree most with what Andy said above: this isn’t anything I haven’t heard before and isn’t blowing my hair back or anything but it is decidedly Good Music (Andy: I’m personally a fan of Good Music). I think the aspect of this I like this most is, forgive me, the clean vocals. Like, the screaming is definitely good! Dude has a great voice and it fits the atmospheric mood perfectly!
However, when they sprinkle in the clean vocals, it’s the only time this approaches something new for me in black metal. I’m sure there are plenty of black metal bands that have clean singing but what the fuck ever - I am not familiar with a ton of them in this style of desolate, atmospheric black metal. When the clean singing comes in, like at the tail end of “Der Guder Dør” it almost feels like injecting some funeral doom, Pallbearer-type stuff into the black metal formula. I really fucking appreciate that, it rules!
There are some riffs here and some dope blast parts too. The middle of “Inn i Lysende Natt” rips. Just top notch instrumentation going on, which is what I come to this style of black metal for. The title track really swings for the fences, which you have to expect at a 16-minute-plus runtime. The portion from about three minutes to four and a half or so really nails the Pallbearer-type influence right before diving deep into classic black metal sounds again in a way that feels seamless and awesome. My only gripes with this album really are, vocal approach-aside, that I feel like I’ve heard this album dozens of times before. It’s a minor quip though: I like it every time I hear something in this style.