Experimental Mood Rock with Industrial, Ambient and Down-tempo leanings.

13 MP3 Songs
ELECTRONIC: Experimental, ELECTRONIC: Down Tempo



Details:
Brandi Winks combines the textures of industrial and experimental music with the emotion and lyrical qualities of alternative and indie rock. She is an independent artist from Syracuse, New York who writes, mixes and produces her own music.
In 2005, Brandi released her first full-length album, "Waiting To Be Born." She is currently working on her next album, "Bright White," slated to be released within the year.
Despite the tentative label, Pretty Shy Girl Music, Brandi is open to the interest of honest, dependable labels and/or companies that may compliment her unique style.

A Review of "Waiting To Be Born"
By: Joshua Heinrich, Grave Concerns E-zine

Blending alternative, industrial, and ambient/ethereal elements, Brandi Winks brings a unique and diverse musical voice to the table on her debut album, Waiting To Be Born. Fairly well produced and arranged, with a particularly remarkable job of layering vocal melodies and using vocal effects, the disc presents a strong 11 song set (*cough* 12 if you include the hidden bonus track *cough*) that uses space and subtlety as effectively as sound and layering. The result falls somewhere between Tori Amos and Nine Inch Nails (more in a stylistic mesh than a "Past the Mission" sort of way) with a few darkwave/ethereal influences thrown in for good measure, excellent electronic percussion providing a framework for ambient synths, spacey guitar/bass, and lovely, prominent vocals.

Oddly enough, Winks' music is often the most provocative and powerful at its barest and subtlest, "The Death of the Good Souls", comprised solely of electronic rhythms and layered vocals, and the slowly building layers and lovely stripped down bass and vocal delivery of the disc's title track being prime examples. "Pretty Shy Girl" is the album's primary industrial offering, comprised of spectacular distorted vocals atop distorted guitar hooks and layered electronic percussion. Still other tracks fall into the synth-based ethereal category, the lush, haunting darkness of "Out of Body" being one of the most noteworthy.

The rhythmic and melodic "Ocean + Shore" is another standout, shuffling electronic percussion and simple bass stabs providing a skeleton for melodies with slight celtic overtones. "Chemical Imbalance", based on a mere 4-note synth string progression, is striking, largely due to Brandi's excellent vocal melodies, while "Letting it Lie" slows things down for something a bit more musically whimsical but lyrically poignant. "A Place to Hide" is the disc's requisite eastern number, mysterious sitar riffs and chimes atop steady percussion and beneath reverb-drenched vocals, while "Invader" is a low-key industrial rocker. "World Standing Still" is a beautifully stark slice of lyric-less melancholia, delayed guitar and layered vocals coalescing into one of the disc's most touching offerings. "All Numb" is another excellent track, Winks wearing her Tori Amos influence on her sleeve, before the *cough* hidden bonus track *cough*, presumably "Glimmer", ends the album with a haunting yet more uplifting serving of moody rock.

Overall, Waiting To Be Born is an excellent, moving release, both stylistically diverse and relatively unique. Its beauty lies largely in its simplicity and intuitive nature, an album that's often subtle and stripped down yet truly touching and powerful. Encompassing multiple genres and likely to have multi-genre appeal, Brandi Winks' debut is certainly worth a listen, especially for those with moody alternative, darkwave, and low-key industrial leanings.