The Winter Sounds And The Church of the Haunted South

The Winter Sounds originally started as a studio project and a way for singer/songwriter Patrick Keenan to document his ideas way back in 2006. Since then Keenan has toured just about every nook and cranny of the United States and has recruited a revolving cast of the Southeast's finest musicians to help support him along the way. This cast of thousands helped Keenan as The Winter Sounds record their sophomore album entitled, Church of the Haunted South.

This grandiose recording is sweepingly gorgeous and sounds like Arcade Fire meets The Cure meets Burt Bacharach. Choruses soar, guitars chime, synths sound like orchestras and Patrick Keenan throws his voice through enough gymnastic maneuvers to make a gold medallist blush. If ever there was someone who had the knack for writing a big tune it would be The Winter Sounds. In fact, so much of Church of the Haunted South sounds so big it's almost to difficult to contain.

The tunes on Church of the Haunted Southare melodically brilliant, emotionally substantial and quite often reach for the heavens. Keenan and his merry band of musicians have pieced together a twelve song masterpiece of joy and sadness and love and death that hits the mark repeatedly. The Winter Sounds are able to do this by combining a host of influences including everything from chamber pop, easy listening, shoegazing, indie rock and a sense that broken hearts always make for great songs.

With songs like, "The Others," and "Swallowed by A Lonely Sea," it's easy to say that Church of the Haunted South is a fantastic record that's dynamic and epic and is a testament to the power of the "big song." The Winter Sounds might have their hearts in the dead of winter, but their songs shimmer brilliantly in the summer sunshine.