Mark Winters serves up a tune that rises up like mirages from a smoothly spread bassline and slowly skidding snares. With soul-streaking guitar riffs, it’s the sort of record that would spark a minor bidding war between rock enthusiasts, who are determined to figure out the song’s unique and outlandish drift.
The artist’s latest single “Be There” reworks as a poetic exercise in displaying affection. For something so liberating and hypnotically webbed with shuddering loops, the Texas based musician steadily sings in steady breaths, so that the record is constantly tightening or slackening, as if on a spool.
Unlike many of his reference points, Mark Winters doesn’t let things blur into murk. He cultivates a rare atmosphere that is at once clear and polluted, spacious and looming, relaxing and uneasy. His song thrives on the pleasure of hearing a sparse, precisely defined palette thoughtfully interpreted through a set of colorways and feelings.
“Be There” contains simple elements that are legible but toned to a certain degree, creating a tension that allows the vocals to rise beneath the instruments and even complement the heavy distortion on the electric guitar. It shivers into life with a modern sense of hollow, ambient appeal and you can imagine that’s only one way of hearing it.
Mark Winters contrives all manner of subtle drops, openings, and turns without ever being overpowering above a hushed drift. He allows each piece to be more than the sum of discernible parts. With unsuspecting melodies, “Be There” leaves much anticipation for his upcoming album SlipStream this coming August.
