With help of an array of talents ranging from choir and orchestral backing along with a myriad of expressive but never bombastic drumming talents and guitar talents including from lead singer Stephen Winston, his newest album One True Story stands out above the rest of the numerous B-side records released in the last few years. Covering topics from faith, love, loss, and more, Winston weaves a tapestry of narrative and textural sonic joys across eleven songs. The real kicker, however, is that these songs with the exception of one newly recorded were all recorded and initially discarded across the course of 5 years in Winston’s career until deciding to make the most out of the very obvious hits he had.
WEBSITE: https://www.stephenwinstonmusic.com/
I wonder why he thought these weren’t worth releasing initially, but it’s a treat that’s incredibly appreciated that they’re seeing the light of day. There’s plenty of tracks that might be someone’s favorite from the opener “All Quiet in The Bronx” to the classical infused personal favorite of men “Jami” with its astounding instrumentals woven through its vocal breaks. With beautiful lyrics like “Shadow of herself, she’s always running”, even when Winston is starkly direct with his points of view or concepts, they still have an ambiguity to them that allows people to fill their own gaps with what could possibly be different meanings to each performance content. Each song has an especially effective outro that lingers with the listener far after it’s ended.
Winston saved some of the best material for the end like with the closer “Something’s Gotta Give” (no, it’s not a Sinatra cover), which infuses Winston’s transparent love for musicians like Neil Young, whose archival projects were the catalyst for this project’s inception. While many songs have a kind of ballad vibe, very meticulously paced, Winston also includes quicker tempo pieces like the energetic “Outside the Ring” which sees Winston challenging others to face life head-on as it is with the almost darker lyrics like “hoping is just a dream, hoping is just a way out, hoping is just a lie to yourself.” Some uncompromising stuff. The piano work by Winston is incredibly astounding and a true highlight and you can very much hear his confidence grow in implementing more complex arrangements that have been mixed to damn near perfection by producer Michael Pfeifer.
Going back to Outside the Ring, it almost serves as the thesis for this album, whereas Winston had every opportunity to let these tracks be buried and left to history, but he’s in command of his own narrative and is taking charge to make sure every release and experiment is on his own terms, never shy or selfish enough to turn away from collaboration which only makes his work stronger. Winston is clearly proud of what he’s accomplished as well as he should be. Sometimes the material might be a little repetitive and some of the songs could have used a great push for escalations, but even when steady, it never feels as though it’s plateaued.
Gwen Waggoner, posted by Jodi Marxbury