Westminster Park: New Years

[Benjamin A. Vazquez U.E.]

New Years

Artist: Westminster Park
Album: New Years
Year: 2016
CD#: XXXXX
Canadian? Yes
Best Tracks: #1, #2, #5
Comments Overall: Simple, homespun, occasionally dark, new years songs, excellent on vinyl

1. Auld Lang Syne, 4:10 - Begins with a countdown to "Happy New Year!", a cover o Guy Lombardo's classic, upbeat and heartwarming, a tribute to old friendships in the new year, "should old aquaintance be forgot and never brough to mind..."
2. New Years, 3:45 - Slow intro, slow and stilted, depressing, a new years gone horribly wrong, echoes of auld lang syne, surreal, picks up suddenly at the end followed by four seconds of silence
3. We're a Couple of Misfits, 3:43 - Cover song, instrumental intro, quiet and calm, lonely, an elf sings about being a misfit, there's a music video for the track on the band's youtube, fades out at the end
4. Winter Outside, 2:30 - Begins with the sound of blowing wind, slow and quiet, a song about winter, slightly morose, nine seconds of silence at the end with a stray accordian sound in the middle
5. Dear Honoured Listener (piano version), 4:43 - Cover of the title track from the band's last cd, begins slow, ethereal, quiet, piano ending, fades out, four seconds of silence at the end

Website: westminsterparkmusic.com/
YouTube: m.youtube.com/channel/UCkfxYjSJDiVy8h830nE79DA
Bandcamp: westminsterpark.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Westminster-Park/1424589211136080
Twitter: twitter.com/W_minster_Park

[Benjamin A. Vazquez U.E.]

I got a magnificent New Year's present this year.
To be fair, the entire city got a magnificent New Year's present. Westminster Park had a surprise recording session and released a five track EP for the holliday. Simultaneously raw and intimate, the album feels like sitting in on a musical jam session with old friends, and I'm credibly informed that it's even more enjoyable on vinyl.
The highlight of the album is the first two tracks. The first track is a recording of Guy Lombardo's "Auld Lang Syne", a heartwarming tribute to old friends in the new year. This is follwed up, however, with a track of Westminster Park's own composing which echoes Auld Lang Syne, speaking of a New Year's gone horribly wrong. Indeed, I find the track to be entirely surreal.
And the surreal themes are echoed again in the ethereal rendition of the band's classic "Dear Honoured Listener". Indeed, nearly all the tracks have some oddity or another which rises to the surface all the more because of the album's intimacy. This CD gnaws at you in every-changing ways and refuses to let you go.