Winter McQuinn

While he’s probably best known for his work with Sunfruits, Aussie songwriter Winter McQuinn has been making his way in solo circles for sometime now. His debut, A Rabble of Bees, found McQuinn orbiting the persona of sequestered psych troubadour, feeling in debt to Syd Barrett and Kevin Ayers. On the follow up he’s left the tilted tunes behind in favor of something more wide open and wondrous. Unlike his work with the ‘fruits, the glam and Britpop are miles away. It’s an album enamored with the ‘70s, though it’s not without a ‘60s shadow as well. The influences are sunnier this time around, letting a country curl into the picture, while layered harmonies set a breezed in motion that can’t help but bring a smile to the listener.

There are touches of Harrison, Nicholls, and Rhodes but at the album’s heart it identifies with the new wave of ‘70s stylists — Michael Rault, Sylvie, Anna St. Louis — the artists who’ve drawn from the past and captured the spirit as well as the aesthetics of the era. McQuinn brings along a few helping hands in that regard, enlisting Jack Kinder and Lewis Mosley from RSTB faves Hot Apple Band, and his bandmate in Sunfruits, Elena Jones to help shape the sound of the record. The assembled heads turn his sophomore outing into a sunny, sanguine record that embraces a late summer joy. It’s an album showcasing an artist finding his comfort, and that comfort is delightfully contagious.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE (AUS) or HERE (US)