San Francisco Blog

Seattle's The Long Winters create music about relationships that get overtaxed, overstretched, and overthought; songs about lovers who spend too much time in their head and not enough time connecting with the person occupying those thoughts. I guess you could call it the usual making and breaking of love affairs. But singer John Roderick is never banal. His lonesome, rough-hewn voice adds additional depth to the poetry of his lyrics, and his point of view constantly shifts. The music is melodic indie rock, but the band adds textures and ambient sounds to complement the stuggles indicated in the song titles.

The Long Winters perform at the Independent on Thursday (July 17), but for a little taste of what's to come, check out "Give Me a Moment," an oldie but goodie off their years back debut The Worst You Can Do Is Harm.