August can often signal a lull on the gigs front, but thankfully this has been rectified by East Sussex quartet Winter Gardens who have today announced that they will be performing a headline gig at The Prince Albert in Brighton on Tuesday 4th August. Support on the night will come from 5 Degrees North who are a 3-piece alt rock band hailing from the Isle of Wight & Brighton. Also on the bill will be indie rock quartet The Downtons.
With the accompaniment of synths, pianos, pads and the celestial vocals of Ananda Howard, Winter Gardens take listeners on a journey through an eclectic array of dynamic and disparate sounds. Their music weaves a kaleidoscopic tapestry of ethereal shoegaze atmospheres, bound together by a pulsing post-punk attitude and a brooding gothic undercurrent, with lyrics that evoke a sense of cryptic intimacy. Since their inception, Winter Gardens have been championed consistently by those that are in the know, including Melita Dennett on BBC Music Introducing who secured Winter Gardens services for a Live Lounge set. They have also received airplay on BBC Radio 1 from Gemma Bradley. Live, they have secured prestigious support slots alongside Echo & The Bunnymen, Gary Numan, Modern English, Piroshka, Pale Blue Eyes and many more. They also kicked off 2024 with an appearance at ‘Rockaway Beach’ alongside acts such as OMD, Self Esteem and Peter Hook & The Light, before performing at Left of the Dial in Rotterdam and Supersonic Club in Paris.
We last caught Winter Gardens live on 13th May as part of this year’s Great Escape new music festival. Where we observed thus:
WINTER GARDENS – Concorde 2 19:15 – 19:45
We move along to the BBC introducing Stage at the Concorde 2 in order to catch Winter Gardens who now comprise Ananda Howard (vocals, tambourine), Jamie Windless (guitar), Ed Fair (bass guitar, Novation keys), and Connor McCorkindale (drums, drumpads), as Jasmine Ardley has recently left to concentrate on her own band. ‘Elegia’ by New Order is their intro music of choice and what a great way to get the punters interested. Interestingly, the album from which this is culled was ‘Low’ and this dropped on this very day back in 1985. Today Winter Gardens are all clad in black and their set commences with the solid deep bass synth sound of ‘Honeymooners’. As per usual Jamie is the most animated of the bunch as he throws his axe around. It’s solid electronic tinged ethereal post punk poppy numbers all the way. There’s layers of reverb-soaked guitars and melodic basslines intertwined with driving percussion, creating a sound that feels both expansive and immediate. The effects on some of Ananada’s vocals worked rather well. I’ve said this before, but here is a band that deserves to be playing stadiums, such is the enormity of their sound. One day the world will hopefully catch on!
Tickets for this forthcoming great night out at The Prince Albert are on sale now – Grab yours HERE.
