While I was scouring the CDs I brought with me to Los Angeles two years ago, I came across an unmarked disc on one of the last pages of my shitty storage binder. I popped the disk in and waited for iTunes to recognize it. A wry smile spread across my face when I realized it was Whips, by Wind-Up Bird.
I remember hearing the album for the first time in 2003, when I was a junior in college. My musical tastes were beginning to change, but I was still heavily invested in “post-rock” and enjoying “indie” stuff like Songs: Ohia, Elliott Smith The Unicorns…and, yeah, I kind of liked that one album by Broken Social Scene. But I was also beginning to move away from pop music. Ian introduced me to the Load catalog, bands like Lightning Bolt, Forcefield and Sightings. I learned about Adam Forkner and his recorded output with Yume Bitsu and his album as [VVRSSNN]]. The transition from popular music fan to reclusive avant-elitist scumbag was just beginning to take hold of me. Whips fit into that era of my life perfectly, as it married epic maelstrom-like drones with gorgeous sonorous movements. Looking back on my musical tastes, it is easy to see the progression from Wind-Up Bird to Stars Of The Lid to Barn Owl.
The album follows a decaying relationship between The Wind-Up Bird, musician/composer Joe Grimm, and his girlfriend of four years. Melodies are built brick by brick, note by note, only to be washed away — eroded — in sweeping, emotional bursts. The first half of the album seems to explore the course of the relationship, from budding beauty to contentment, fights, and eventually the misery that arises upon realizing that the relationship is over. The track entitled “This” treats listeners to the first spoken words of the album. Grimm’s girlfriend speaks, her voice filled with heartbreak, into his answering machine. Her message soon becomes distorted as it is looped repeated and allowed to decay into an unintelligible mess. The loss of meaning is, in fact, the most meaningful moment of the album. From there the music actually becomes more happy, uplifting, offering a sincere message of hope for what lays ahead.
Whips was released about 6 years ago, and as far as I know there were no further albums credited to The Wind-Up Bird. Grimm currently records under the Bonecloud moniker. In my opinion, none of his work in the latter half of this decade has touched the beauty and intensity of Whips. For an album that many don’t know — and one that I admittedly forgot about for a very long time — it had a bigger impact on me than I think I’ve ever realized.
Enjoy!
The Wind-Up Bird
Whips
MediaFire DL Link
Tracklist:
01. Sorry
02. That I’ve
03. Become
04. This
05. Monster
06. I Love
07. You
08. A Lot
