The Winstons - The Winstons (2016)

Get ready to jump on your chair, dear ‘progsters’, because we can not imagine any different reaction upon hearing The Winstons’ debut record, a 100% Italian trio despite their name and the kind of music here proposed. Their genre in itself is hard to classify, but that definitely has its reference point the in the Canterbury progressive rock scene and in artists such as Soft Machine, Gong, Caravan, Henry Cow, Kevin Ayers and so on.

This is a power trio of multi-instrumentalists who hide under the pseudonyms Linnon Winston, Rob Winston and Enro Winston, but that are, surprisingly, three well known characters of the Italian indie-rock panorama; their real identities are, respectively, Lino Gitto, a constant presence in multiple releases and events of the Milan scene, Roberto Dell'Era, best known as the bass player in Afterhours, and Enrico Gabrielli from Calibro 35, Mariposa and Der Maurer.

As a result of a strong long-lasting friendship and a series of concerts played together all over Italy, The Winstons was born; in a ‘70s revival period like this, they explore a genre that almost no one has dared to face, the aforementioned ‘Canterburian Prog-rock’ (but the album also contains references to beat, garage rock and psychedelia), and do so with a truly amazing mastery!

The surreal album cover is made by Japanese artist Gun Kawamura, who also wrote the lyrics of two songs on the album (“Diprotodon” and “Number Number”), sung in Japanese by Gabrielli and Dell’Era”!