Mix Tape Monday: Winter Gloves (And yes, we know it’s really Tuesday)

featuring…

Winter Gloves

Winter Gloves began as one guy’s way of figuring out how to plug himself into life in the big city. It was a single microphone and minimal equipment gathered into Charles F’s downtown Montreal apartment to piece together all the distances he’d covered since growing up in rural Quebec. The jarring shift of such a transition seemed to peek through every chance it could, a constant inspiration as much as frustration that was drafted in the band’s self-released Let Me Drive EP of mainly demo tracks. Today, Winter Gloves is Charles F (lead singer/songwriter/wurlitzer), Pat Sayers (drums), Vincent Chalifour (synths) and Jean-Michel Pigeon (guitar/glockenspiel). With only a handful of live shows behind them at the beginning of the 2008, Winter Gloves was already receiving invitations to join bands like Tokyo Police Club on a series of sold-out tour dates. Such well-attended shows helped spread what was becoming the wildfire of the earlier EP demo tracks that spiked on top 10 lists with record downloads after being made available on iTunes, and lead to top pick coverage at both major annual music festivals in Canada, Canadian Music Week and NXNE. After the Canadian release of the band’s full length in the Fall of 2008, the band continued on the same foot as things had started with dates alongside Tokyo Police Club and a slot at Toronto’s Virgin Festival before hitting the road across Canada with Vancouver’s You Say Party! We Say Die! and Quebec’s Beast. Reactions to the album and these shows immediately secured showcase opportunities at International conferences, invitations for further touring and secured spots on “Best of 2008” yearend lists including “Best New Artist” from iTunes Canada. The about a girl LP is ten songs driven by the sounds of keyboards and drums, all wrapped up in a constant buzz of bass and gritty synths. The foursome will introduce themselves to the US with the 3 song, digital-only Let Me Drive EP featuring early sketches of songs that were later developed for the about a girl LP.

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I can’t take credit for “finding” these guys– that all goes to Amber. She sent me their MySpace link and I immediately fell in love with the song Piano 4 Hands. It’s just one of those songs that just fits, yanno? Like it’s that go-to song in any occasion, whether I am happy, feel like dancing or maybe just a tidge emo. It’s just….right. Check it out for yourself:

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Of course, as soon as I heard them I got online and IMed Amber to let her know how much I dug them. She was like, #DUH. So, I have to throw in her fave song, Invisible and her thoughts on these guys:

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Cause any band that can bust out a xylophone and jingle bells during a song is WIN in my book!

And since I’m a Nirvana fan, straight up, they did a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit that makes me smile. It sounds SO  much less depressing! Mad props to them for figuring out what the hell Kurt Cobain is mumble singing!

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Winter Gloves will be hitting the road starting tomorrow, with a few Canadian shows, before heading overseas for their European tour. But if you are in Austin, you are in luck! In between their stops in Canada and Europe, these guys will be making a pit stop to play SXSW– so if you are in the area go check them out! You can find a complete list of their tour dates on their MySpace page.

Wants to own for yourself? You can purchase Winter Gloves on iTunes. You can also find Winter Gloves on MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

What did you think of these guys? Drop us a line and let us know, yeah? And while you’re here, do you have a band that you think should be noticed? Let us know and they could be featured on Mix Tape Monday here at the Shack!