Singer songwriter Jake Winstrom lives in a shoe-box sized apartment (his words) in New York, and was very fortunate to have committed his forthcoming album ‘Circles’ to tape before the onset of this year’s pandemic.
“Lucky for sure. We were basically 99-percent done. So we were able to lean on some very talented friends with home studios to add the odd overdub here and there. And engineers John Harvey and Mary Podio were super savvy to invent a new workflow that let us finish mixing remotely.”
“We were really fortunate. I mean, obviously, the world needs another rock and roll record like it needs a hole in its head right now. But I needed this one. For my own sanity. I feel like I’ve been working up to this album my whole life. I’m 37 years old. It’s 37 minutes long. Coincidence? I think not! But I do feel like a good chunk of a lifetime is living in these songs. The highs, lows and in-betweens, to quote Townes Van Zandt. I hope folks dig it. I do.”
His voice is sweet yet sandpapery – somewhat reminiscent of the late great Marc Bolan – and he’s been around for more than a decade, yet ‘Circles’ is only his second solo album. Opening song of the nine track set, is ‘Come To Texas She Said’, a cautionary tale of his own protest against a partner’s proposal to shift location, and to Texas at that. The instrumental feels like T.Rex too, it’s held together with a rollicking bass, along with some mighty fine pedal steel guitars, while Winstrom’s vocals slink across the instrumental base. It’s essentially a two-parter – his partner makes the proposal to move across the country, bigging it up, with its slower pace of life, all its positives…but Winstrom is having nothing of it. He implores in the chorus, “I’m not leaving New York City for nothing”…and given that’s where he still is, it seems all that begging was for nought.
The song comes with a simple lyric video, the words moving across a gently flashing illustration. It’s effective nonetheless.
‘Come To Texas She Said’ is out now, and you can watch the lyric video below. ‘Circles’ is set for release on September 25, and will be available on vinyl, and to stream and download.
Support Jake Winstrom online on Bandcamp, Instagram, Facebook, and SoundCloud.
