Adult Romantix

Samira Winter has made nothing but first-class shoegaze spiked with dream pop since she started making records. Everything her project Winter has created has been a shining example of how the age-old genre could evolve and grow stronger given the proper care and feeding. Things like hooky songs, very dynamic arrangements, and lyrics that peek through the wall of sound to lasso the listeners heart. The cool thing about Winters 2025 album Adult Romantix is that she does all those things but then adds more. Tighter arrangements that make more room for tonal shifts and space, vocals that ooze melancholy and sadness, melodies that sound timeless and immediate at once, and best of all, it sounds like she and co-producer Joojoo Ashworth decided that while their work in the past was good, why not make the slow sad songs slower and sadder, and the poppy rippers even more poppy and more noisy? Its the kind of thinking that can separate an artist from the gazing hordes, and it works to make Adult Romantix a recording that defines a sound rather than one that just connects the tried-and-true dots. For examples of what makes the album so good, check out "Just Like a Flower," which melts jangle into molten fuzz like nobody since early pre-Creation MBV has -- at least not this well -- or "In My Basement Room," a work of grinding guitar magic that also features Samira at her most downbeat vocally. These polar-opposite moods are joined by songs that have some trip-hop drift ("The Beach"), sweetly sung, super introspective gliders ("Sometimes I Think About Death"), and pure pop gems (the Horse Jumper of Love-guesting "Misery"). Every track on the album could end up on this list because every song has something special going on, whether melodically, emotionally, or in the production. Thats a rare feat, especially for music coming out of the shoegaze realm. Even the best bands from back in the day had trouble making cohesive albums that still had moments of brilliance throughout. Winter has been walking on the right side of that line for years, and with Adult Romantix shes vaulted way past it and has made something that should be mentioned when all-time great shoegaze or dream pop albums are discussed. ~ Tim Sendra