Wintersleep

WINTERSLEEP WITH GUESTS WEIRD NIGHTMARE — LIVE AT BRIDGEWORKS!

It’s no easy thing to sustain a band for more than 20 years. To come together and nurture an artistic project across two decades is a statement of belief: in oneself, in one’s bandmates, in the profound connections produced by the creative process, and in the richness of the world around us—since all art is a result of having noticed what it feels like to live here, and the drive to make sense of that feeling. Canadian indie-rock veterans Wintersleep belong to this group of artists. At this stage in their career, the celebrated band’s five members—principal vocalist and guitarist Paul Murphy, guitarist Tim D’Eon, keyboardist Jon Samuel, bassist Chris Bell, and drummer Loel Campbell—are possessed of a deep gratitude and humility that accompany any creatives who get to make a life-long go of making art with the people they love. But there are still wonderful mysteries and shadowy corners of experience that they have yet to uncover. With seven critically acclaimed full-length records behind them, and six years passed since their 2019 LP In The Land Of , Wintersleep are stirring again. Wishing Moon , the band’s eighth album, will arrive on March 27, 2026 via Dine Alone. Recorded at producer Nicolas Vernhes’ studio in the Mojave Desert near Pioneertown, the collection of 13 songs evidences a renewed vitality and energy: The band’s branches of prog-, indie-, folk-, and alternative-rock are in full bloom, stretching skyward with grateful, open, curious hearts. Wintersleep will tour Wishing Moon throughout 2026, and they hope to see you at the show—it’s only by coming together,by still trying, and still believing, that any of this works.

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If you’re looking for a raw, sugary blast of distorted pop, look no further than Weird Nightmare . The debut album from METZ guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins contains all of his main band’s bite with an unexpected, yet totally satisfying, sweetness. Imagine The Amps covering Big Star, or the gloriously hissy miniature epics of classic-era Guided by Voices combined with the bombast of Copper Blu- era Sugar—just tons of red-line distortion cut with the type of tunecraft that thrills the moment it hits your ears. These ten songs showcase a new side of Edkins’ already-established songwriting, but even though the bulk of Weird Nightmare was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic some of its tunes date back to 2013 in demo form. “Hooks and melody have always been a big part of my writing, but they really became the main focus this time” he explains. “It was about doing what felt natural.” To be clear: Weird Nightmare is not a “pandemic album,” but an album—some of which had been gestating for quite a while—that just so happened to be recorded during the pandemic. “I had always planned on finishing these songs, but being unable to tour with METZ, and forced to lock down, really gave me a push.” After days spent homeschooling his son, Edkins would drive to the METZ rehearsal room and tinker deep into the night on these songs’ deceptively simple structures and rich, static-laden textures. “It was a godsend for me,” he states about the creative process. “The hours would disappear and I would get lost in the music and record. It was a beautiful escape.” Weird Nightmare is, in its own way, a study in extremes: Edkins’ melodic instincts and penchant for dissonance are both turned up to the max throughout, the latter reflecting not only the barn-burning tendencies of METZ, but Alex’s own sonic predilections. “It doesn’t sound right to my ears until it’s pushed over the edge.” He also cites other artists who are masterful at mixing the sublime and the punishing—Kim Deal and Scout Niblett among them—as influences on his own songwriting. “My favorite songs are the simple ones,” he explains. “I’ve never been attracted to virtuosity or technicality. Certain songs have the power to lift your spirits like nothing else can. I wanted to create that type of song.”

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