by chris carpenter
Rain Machine is the solo work of TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone. The track “Winter Song” is one of the best I’ve heard in sometime which prompted today’s review. First and foremost, the song is over 11 minutes long, so if you’re purely a fan of the pop blueprint, 4-minute track, immediately cease from reading further and check out the latest MGMT song. Then, pop your collar, go to your local watering hole, order a Long Island Iced Tea, and drink away the notion of how absolutely fucking predictable you are. Now, for those of you I haven’t offended, let me tell you about a track that stopped time for me the first time I heard it. Take my hand and I’ll lead you through it.
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“Winter Song” begins with beautifully layered acoustic noodling, setting the stage for an impending epic. It’s truly an amalgamation of styles, never resting on a particular theme. Instead it’s an ever flowing stream of present consciousness, that tells a story greater than the sum of its parts. The song continues as chimes ring in like snow bouncing off icicles, reverberating the title of the track, “Winter Song.” Akin to Sufjan Stevens’ “Sister Winter”, this song isolates the winter moment, and captures its glory in a scintillating tradition. The musicality is like if Sigur Ros had a threesome with Woody Guthrie and Ravi Shankar. It eventually crescendo’s into Kyp Malone singing what sounds like a spiritual hymn, backed by a chorus repeating “All is love.” Now, this is a good lesson in originality. Had this been the standard verse-chorus, verse-chorus structure, and the chorus was “all is love,” the song would have to be awfully good to not come off incredibly cheesy. However, Kyp Malone spends the first 6 minutes of his song creating a free form folk structure. Amidst this “free-folk” Kyp suddenly starts howling, “All is love” and in an alluring contrast, a soft chorus repeats the simple sentiment. The song is prolific in that it contains multiple acts within itself. If you take two separate portions of it, you’d never think they could come together as one, but Kyp transitions them so seamlessly that they thread together like strands of fabric in a skillfully woven quilt. It doesn’t try to be anything. It purely is.
In the beginning of the summer I like to find a groovy track to resuscitate the boogie out of me from a long winter’s hibernation. In contrast, “Winter Song” actually has me looking forward to the frigid moments ahead. Kyp Malone has given me a new perspective on the season, and I’m looking forward to a winter of bliss.
