Cameron Winter
Live at Carnegie Hall
***and1/2 out of *****
The solo live album from Cameron Winter captured during his one night stand at NYC's famed venue Carnegie Hall strips the artist down to his essentials. Live at Carnegie Hall on Partisan Records finds Winter alone with a piano, voice, and a set of songs.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the live capturing is how Winter holds court, these songs all run long, but never drag or feel pompous, even while remaining relatively the same. Pulling from his solo album Heavy Metal, and a few new songs, Winter has the crowd enraptured with every piano flourish and vocal note held. During "Rolling Stones" he does a twinkling breakdown that seems to be toying with the crowd for an extended time, a real showman in his element.
While a few of his songs don't have as much emotional heft as Winter thinks they do (the theatrical "Try As I May", the over cooked "Drinking Age", the cluttered "Nina + Field of Cops") it is impossible to not be moved by others. The opening "It All Fell In The River" was a debut and a stunning way to kick things off as the gospel adjacent affair, sets a supremely high bar as the artist sings and plays one of the best songs of the night to start. "Cancer of the Skull" is a mid set highpoint as Winter rambles around as a zero dollar man while the heartbreak and loneliness of "Take It With You" is palpable.
Winter has a very somber/serious tone throughout but there is some humor there waiting to come out. Another new offering "Emperor XIII in Shades" is a twisting religious laced ode that would not be out of place in Randy Newman's song book. The propulsivly cascading "If You Turn Back Now" also deals with religious polarities and apocalyptic images around vocal ooh and ahh's, while "$0" is a gorgeous exhale that builds with percussive aggression, religious fervor and soaring vocals before retreating.
The vibrant "Love Takes Miles" finds Winter shifting his singing up and down the register, dragging out notes before speeding up with confidence. The record ends with "Vines" which drips with desperation as Winters vocals ebb and flow around the simple piano to start before primal banging and singing, performative in his best way. Dealing with loneliness directly Cameron ends his solo show stripped down and vulnerable.
While Winter's band Geese received huge acclaim last year, this year his solo offering is doing the same for him as an individual artist. It is shocking that Cameron Winter is just 24 years old as he already seems to be an old soul delivering a special night of music on Live at Carnegie Hall.
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