Windsor For The Derby

Hailing from Tampa, FL, the founding members of the atmospheric post-rock group Windsor for the Derby -- guitarists Dan Matz and Jason McNeeley, along with drummer Greg Anderson -- soon migrated to Austin, TX, where they were signed to the local Trance Syndicate label. Their debut LP, 1996's Calm Hades Float, was produced and engineered by Adam Witzie, who agreed to become a full-time Windsor for the Derby member shortly after the project's completion. After issuing the EP Metropolitan Then Poland in early 1997, the group closed out the year with the release of the full-length Minnie Greunzfeldt. In 1999, they returned with Difference and Repetition. Three years later they appeared with a B-sides collection, Earnest Powers, on Emperor Jones. The band also scaled down in this time period, leaving only Matz and McNeeley from the original lineup. Spacy folk texture crept into the 2002 Aesthetic release Emotional Rescue, 2004's We Fight Til Death featured halting vocals and a greater instrumental palette to work from. After the album both McNeeley and Matz ended up living in Philadelphia, (previously they'd converged somewhere once or twice a year to work on material), and putting down roots let them experiment more in a home studio, and play frequent live shows. They also added to the lineup drummer Charlie Hall and keyboardist and bassist Ann Neighbor. Giving Up the Ghost reflected these changes when it appeared from Secretly Canadian in August 2005. Though Neighbor was credited alongside Matz and McNeely, Gianmarco Cilli (National Eye) handled drums on the album. How We Lost arrived in early 2008.

2002 - The Emotional Rescue LP

Windsor For The Derby - 2002 - The Emotional Rescue LP

Taking a slightly different route than on their previously uniformly solid releases, Windsor for the Derby eschews the weighty instrumentals of their past in favor of a mix emphasizing vocals, solemn acoustic guitars, and florescent keyboards. On their fourth album, the minimalist and hypnotic tendencies of their past remain, with Dan Matz and Jason McNeely remaining as the only full-time members of the band. Now walking the line between spacy folk and chamber pop, the arrangements of twinkling guitars and intricately repeated rhythms give the set a much different dynamic than their previous recordings. If that entails that The Emotional Rescue LP is their most accessible release, that isn't to imply that this is a shrewd attempt at commerciality, as tracks like "Mythologies" offer more than a few reminders of their old sounds. Enchanting in a newly cinematic way, moments such as "Now I Know the Sea" and the title track enjoy an emotional intimacy that was not always apparent in their earlier releases. All in all, a release that seems to present a band on the verge of an artistic breakthrough.

		1		The Same		7:49
		2		Now I Know the Sea		4:45
		3		Emotional Rescue		4:20
		4		Fall of '68		5:11
		5		Indonesian Guitars		4:04
		6		Mythologies		5:17
		7		Awkwardness		4:33
		8		Another Rescue		3:25
		9		Donkey Ride		4:35

¡Aquí!