The next release on Second Language Music will be ‘Last April,’ the new mini-album by The Declining Winter, a raw, deeply emotional monument of loss, grief and heartbreak that treads in the footsteps of Red House Painters\u2019 \u2018Down Colorful Hill,\u2019 Nick Drake\u2019s \u2018Pink Moon\u2019 and Songs: Ohia\u2019s \u2018Didn\u2019t It Rain.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Far below the candyfloss, stadium-filling pop-pap, the saccharine sentiments, the airbrushed idealism, the depthless, vacuous transience of social media, there\u2019s the music that MUST be made, words that MUST come out, regardless of whether anyone is listening. The artists who make these songs voluntarily exist in the shadows, away from the noise and the spotlights; for it is here that an integral tranquillity allows them to reflect on the unvarnished reality of human existence.
This is not a heart-on-your-sleeve record. It does away with the sleeve and goes straight for carving a heart on the arm. Recordings which emerged out of a period of shock, grief and trauma, these six songs were all written on the same night and form a stately tribute to a loved one lost. Most of us have been here, of course – these are universal themes – we all experience loss, grief, heartbreak and we all have our own ways of coping.
Whilst their previous album (2023\u2019s \u2018Really Early, Really Late\u2019) was lush, ornate and featuring a wide array of instrumentation, on \u2018Last April,\u2019 The Declining Winter strip things back to just Richard Adams\u2019 plaintive voice and acoustic guitar, alongside the beautiful, irrefutably melancholy string arrangements\/playing of Sarah Kemp (Brave Timbers). There\u2019s been no attempt to plane off any rough edges – here and there, the creak of a chair, a guitar note missed, a voice almost cracking with emotion – these recordings are like cathartic scrawls in a diary. Only this one has been left out for anyone to read.
As with his previous band, Hood, Adams has a way of evoking a particularly pastoral, English melancholy, of lonely morning hikes in inclement weathers, of rain on slate in the West Yorkshire streets where he was raised and still lives.
\u2018Last April\u2019 is a monument to a loved one, a monument that, much like stone, will outlive us all. There\u2019s comfort in that and in that, whoever might hear it, they might feel a little less alone. This is an album that exists simply because it has to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out on November 1st 2024, ‘Last April’ is available in limited edition clear vinyl, black vinyl, CD and to stream\/download. 3 signed test pressings are also available. Pre-order\/full info on our Bandcamp page here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ‘Mother’s Son,’ the first single from the mini-album, is out now on all good digital platforms (and available to anyone pre-ordering the mini-album from our Bandcamp page). Watch the video here : https:\/\/youtu.be\/VZeX82z-dPs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n