Sweeter the second time around

The first time I heard Last Winter’s music was when I stumbled upon Karen Teh’s Multiply page and I saw her playlist of the band there. The moment I heard their music, I was hooked. They have a mix of deep and simplistic lyric, coupled with really nice vocals and backed by not-too-noisy-but-not-too-soft melodies. It kept my head banging at work back in 2005. Since then, I could not bring myself to remove their songs from my iPod even if I was already running out of space. I own a simple 8Gb iPod Nano 2nd gen and filling it up with songs is easy. But Last Winter had always been a fixture in my iPod and in my computer. I did lose track of what was going on with the band and only recently did I find out that their songs have already been featured in some MTV shows. They are still worth listening to though despite their exposure in MTV and their sounds remains to be the same in their 2007 album and I am happy with that.

I can see the Milky Way from Illinois…

Recently, I have been going through MySpace pages mainly those in the alternative rock genre and I rediscovered Last Winter. I was a bit saddened when I read in their blog that they had to part ways but recently, they updated their fans about the group coming back together again. Definitely something to look forward to for 2009.

Under the Silver of Machines has some new material but almost half of it are songs from their Transmission: Skyline album like Chasing Lights, Standing Here and Don’t Forget To Write. Do note that the ones taken from the Transmission: Skyline album aren’t just copies of the 2005 version. They come with new vocals, better harmonization and a better, more organized sound. I am definitely loving these newer versions of the songs that I have always liked from Last Winter.

The new material are no less pleasurable to the ear. The song I like most from the new stuff is The Violent Things. That definitely gets my head banging in the office when it starts playing.

I can honestly say this band is worth giving a listen to and their 2007 album is a welcome improvement quality-wise from Transmission: Skyline. Below is the line-up of their songs:

1. Cassiopeia – 0:59
2. The Violent Things – 3:21
3. A Pacific Romance – 3:13
4. Kiss So Hard – 2:56
5. Girl Next Door – 4:00
6. Standing Here – 3:48
7. Our Summer In Illinois – 3:36
8. Made For TV – 3:48
9. Don’t Forget To Write – 3:38
10. Chasing Lights – 4:01
11. Starlight Drive – 4:22
12. Vela To Norma – 5:52