RIFTROCK REVIEWS

The Long Winters

Ultimatum
Posted by David Barker
10/20

Reviewing an EP is difficult—typically you’ll have one song that rises above the rest, while the remainder of the disc serves as filler or just support for what could be tagged as the “single.” Ultimatum avoids this, for the most part, as The Long Winters have issued a beautiful follow-up to 2003’s When I Pretend to Fall.

The Seattle group is the vehicle for one man’s art—John Roderick, the principal songwriter and visionary that drives The Long Winters. Ultimatum, if we’re lucky, is a taste of things to come from Roderick as the weeks and months progress, and maybe one day he’ll be Barsuk’s next Ben Gibbard. Ha, okay, maybe it’s not so fair to lay that burden upon his shoulders, though I do prefer Roderick any day of the week.

Ultimatum is made up of four studio tracks, a live version of the title track, and a live version of “Bride and Bridle,” which appeared on band’s previous album. Roderick conveys an enormous amount of simple sincerity and compassion in his songs, and it’s more crystal-clear on this release than anything I’ve heard from him in the past. It’s true that these songs deal with relationships, to an extent, but Roderick focuses more on the little things that culminate in something that transcends the mere “I need you back” message that so many songs contain.

“The Commander Thinks Aloud” and “Ultimatum” start off the disc, and also happen to make the purchase worthy. Rarely do I hear one song from a record and immediately seek it out; I did this with the finger-picking, heart-string tugging “Ultimatum” after hearing it on WOXY. "Everything is Talking" is a backlash our reliance on television, and "Delicate Hands" is a sunny, piano-driven number.

The Long Winters maintain the balance between beauty, honesty, and all-out catchiness that truly isn’t found all that often, and this EP should be a pleaser.