Last Winks Review for Awhile

So the Winks soon commence their tour, flying east to play Toronto and Montreal; tonight at Cafe Deux Soleils, they played their lastVancouver gig for awhile, Todd bespectacled, Tim their horn player opening with a couple of evocative solo pieces for baritone sax... I bought a musician buddy out tonight who is typically difficult to impress -- he sets fairly high standards -- and even he agreed that the Winks are onto something quite remarkable (tho' he was a bit irritated, as he usually is, by any technical difficulties, like the longish soundcheck, the drummer missing occasional cues from Todd, and certain uncertainties as to the setlist... These things don't bother me so much. Tonight was probably the loosest of the last four shows I've seen; but if you can't be loose at Cafe Deux Soleil...). I found myself noticing Thurston Moore in Todd's vocal mannerisms (my friend thought there might be a Blonde Redhead influence, too). I scribbled notes about things I liked: one cool song that I don't think is recorded yet is called "Castle in the Clouds," devoted to their practice space (another Meatball, but I think different from the last Meatball). The song is the one with the line about washing one's mouth with a sip of tea; it has an interesting logic to its progression, and nice interaction between Todd and Tyr. Other lyrics from other songs stuck long enough for me to write them down: "hold it up into the cold until it's warm;" "please just give me holes to breathe through;" the observation in "Ice Fields," on Slippers and Parasol, that "the waters are infested." I liked Todd's marching in place as that song built towards its finale. Somewhere he stomped on a balloon that was bouncing around as a complement to the percussion, too -- also a good touch. I like it when the band open things up to jam noisily, which they did in another show-closing take on "Expressway to Yr. Skull," with Todd kneeling to manipulate effects pedals through most of it; they should feel free to jam more -- it's generally quite pleasing to hear. So loose or no, it was a good gig to see them off; wish them Godspeed or sumfin' on their tour, folks. Tyr: don't forget, I need an extra large t-shirt, when next you're gettin' 'em made.

BTW, it looks like their next Vancouver gig is on March 26th...