Are you acquainted with the doctrine of the Trinity? The term itself doesn’t appear in scripture, yet Christian scholars contend that its essence is woven throughout the Bible. It’s straightforward in one respect but stunningly intricate in another: a single God in existence, yet God unfolds himself in three distinct persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are separate personalities, yet one substance. The doctrine of a triune God is bold enough to provoke accusations of polytheism from other monotheistic faiths, yet it holds immense significance for the faith because it underpins the conviction that God is love. Rather than a solitary deity isolated in the vast beyond, the ultimate reality is a communion that delights in one another, cares for one another, and submits to one another. It’s a beautiful vision, even if you dismiss it as myth.
Perhaps this sounds irreverent, but I suspect we glimpse that beauty in any great band. It’s especially true of Styrofoam Winos, where three distinct souls fuse into a single entity. Joe Kenkel, Trevor Nikrant, and Lou Turner each bring songs to the table, constantly trading instruments to match the song’s needs. They rotate in the spotlight, setting aside ego to serve something larger than themselves, and the resulting joyful racket surpasses what any of them could create on their own. “It’s a sweet alignment of forces, cooperative and collaborative,” remarks their friend, admirer, and fellow Michael Hurley devotee Will Oldham, underscoring how music made by them makes him feel.
All bands function as teams to some degree, but many groups resemble sports squads: the lead singer as quarterback, guitars and keys as wide receivers and running backs, the rhythm section as the offensive line. The Winos resemble a basketball roster where every member can assume multiple roles. They aren’t interchangeable in the sense of sharing a single style or skill set; they succeed in any lineup because each member is willing and able to handle whatever position the moment demands. They call it “Song Voltron.” Think of them as Yo La Tengo reborn for a new generation — they even have a married couple in Turner and Nikrant — but their ethos leans more egalitarian, and instead of carrying an East Coast lineage, they grew up in the South, idolizing David Berman.
Like Hoboken’s best, the Winos prefer the underground. Rather than chasing a mass audience, they’ve spent the 2020s following their muse and building a network of like-minded music nerds in their Nashville homeland and across the country. They’re in the music business, sure, but they’re also in the business of community. This is what they’ve been pursuing since finishing Belmont University and jamming after shifts at the now-closed J&J’s Market And Cafe. I came across an excerpt from their Nashville Scene interview that struck a chord:
KENKEL: On a granular level, creating offbeat stuff is a small but vital rebellion for our micro-community. For me, it’s good for mental health to make things that don’t fit the straight-and-narrow path. It’s like, “Screw whatever else is happening, I’m going to craft this odd little work of art.” Even if it isn’t exactly “helpful” in the conventional sense, it’s essential to do.
TURNER: It’s about being your strange little self, because AI cannot replicate it, and big business cannot swallow it whole.
NIKRANT: It feels inherently political, because you’re conjuring joy and something you care about out of thin air. It hasn’t been preapproved by any authority, nor commodified into something marketable.
TURNER: Supporting your local subculture matters, as a friend of mine would say. The more we can birth another world, the more the rotten existing world can drift toward that one. We must keep building a new world and not let fear prevent us from small acts, because small acts are all we truly have to perform.
NIKRANT: They’re only small acts if some power decrees they are.
That new world they’ve helped birth continues to gain notice. They’ve spent time with the Roadhouse Band alongside Ryan Davis, a standout figure in indie circles in recent years, who released the Winos’ self-titled debut on his excellent Sophomore Lounge label in 2021. They’ve also earned the affection of MJ Lenderman, who covered “Long Black Veil” with the Winos on his 2023 Live And Loose! live album and has featured Nikrant in his own outfit. For 2024’s Real Time, they joined the Dear Life Records roster, a label run in part by Lenderman’s bandmate Jon Samuels. They return to Dear Life for LP3, Any River, due out this Friday.
Pinning down the Winos’ sound with precision is tricky, partly because three songwriters share the helm and partly because they’re game for a wide spectrum of tunes. Their debut album is even labeled “traditional folk” on Apple Music and opens with a post-punk number unlike anything else they’ve done. It seems fair to say they operate at the crossroads of indie rock and country, delivering a laid-back, weary energy with a playful sense of humor to rootsy rock ’n’ roll. Had they arrived a few years earlier, they might have found a home on Paradise Of Bachelors alongside Nap Eyes, another great band with a similar vibe.
You can sense their breadth in the opening stretch of Any River. Turner leads on “Pearls,” a track that sits between Courtney Barnett and Real Estate, exuding a relaxed cadence, a slyly shifting rhythm, and a wealth of guitar and bass riffs. (Key lyric: “You’ve got a pearl tucked inside your nervous habits.”) Nikrant leans into falsetto for the earnest Neil Young-inspired love ballad “BBQ,” buoyed by their synths and vocal harmonies. (Key lyric: “Tomatoes and beans and scraped knees in the summertime / I believe in all we’ve got cooking tonight.”) Then Kenkel takes the mic for “Somebody Wants To Send You A Message,” which feels like Dire Straits aboard a houseboat, spiked with cowbell, online boredom, and a skronking bass clarinet solo from producer Jim Marlowe. (Key lyric: “Enter my chatroom of passion.”)
The river of ingenious songwriting and charming performances continues beyond that point. With “Swimminin,” they deliver a ragged rocker in the lineage of Wilco’s later work; with “Off My Mind,” a sighing, soft-country fusion that borrows from Linda Ronstadt and Fleetwood Mac; with “New Friend,” a bossa nova-flavored theme that could have been a ’70s sitcom intro, complete with flute, trumpet, and claps. They wield a host of instruments—talkbox, Rhodes, pedal steel, organ, marimba, windchimes, vibraphone, melodica—skillfully, blending textures and quirky melodies into a lush, adventurous palette. The result hints at a restless creativity, as if they’re chasing fresh ideas and genuinely enjoying the chase.
Their playfulness even brushes against humor. Much of the album carries a late Pavement/early-Jicks vibe, a pungent mix of whimsy and melancholy. Yet where Stephen Malkmus’s humor often serves as a shield, the Winos radiate a playful grace, as if they’re laughing off life’s troubles with dignity. On the bluegrass-inflected “Next Thing,” Kenkel quips, “The bird did its business on my hood again — time to move on,” and on “I Felt You” Turner delivers a line that had me doing a double take: “What’s for dinner? Eggs two ways / I want to meet you on the gastral plane.”
At times, the clever quips and deadpan wordplay give way to outright goofiness. In the Turner-led finale “Gettin’ Down,” the chorus nudges us to “Be your own Elvis / Uh huh huh” and “Be your own Marilyn / Lookin’ good,” followed by “Be your own Hendrix / Wah wah wah.” It never fails to elicit a smile. Yet as the album closes, the mood shifts toward a serene grace. As they wind toward the end, a wash of keyboard chords and guitar lines dominates the mix—a soundscape that feels like navigating the tedium of life with quiet optimism, steadfast perseverance, and a little help from friends. What could be more divine?
Any River is slated for release on 6/19 through Dear Life.
Other notable releases this week include:
Tierra Whack’s (Whack’s Museum) mixtape
Pond’s Terrestrials
Tucker Zimmerman’s posthumous Dream Me A Dream
Daniel Lanois’ Belladonna Nocturne
YG’s The Gentlemen’s Club
Office Dog’s Prime Corner
Swamp Dogg’s Swamp Dogg Contemplates The Afterlife
Alex Zhang Hungtai’s Orion/Mother
Swim Deep’s Hum
LIFE’s ABSTRACT / NATURAL
PJ Morton’s Saturday Night, Sunday Morning
Janus Rasmussen’s Inert
Hard-Fi’s Sweating Someone Else’s Fever
Orquestra Pacifico Tropical’s El Poder
The War And Treaty’s The Story Of Michael And Tanya
Strawberry Panic’s Gape Horno
Billet Doux’s Superbloom Is Here Again
Sha Ray & DJ Haram’s Critical Thot
Lindsay Schoolcraft’s Harrowing
Micah Thomas’ Lucid
Jon Batiste’s Black Mozart (Batiste Piano Series Vol. 2)
Grivo’s Impose
Ama’s Ama
Warning’s Rituals Of Shame
RIIZE’s II Mini Album
Sludgeworth’s Second Time Around
Lee Lewis’ HOWL
L.O.T.I.O.N. Multinational Corporation’s Machine Hallucinations
student 1’s truant
Wild Up’s Julius Eastman Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla
Dour’s Agora
Placebo’s Placebo RE:CREATED
Zoon’s HAPPY THOUGHT SCHOOL
Quiet Fear’s La Tierra Arriba/El Abismo Abajo
Your Brother’s Keeper & Gary Bartz’s Where Rivers Meet
Half-handed Cloud’s Toothpaste Horse
Prince Of Failure’s Prince Of Failure
The Limiñanas’ Live At Beaubourg
Casi’s Casi
Lost In Kyiv’s We’re All Going To Be Fine
Mare’s Becoming
Digitonal’s The Night Album
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild box set
Barns Courtney’s Live And Wired live album
Big Freedia & SOPHIE’s Released At Last EP
Jordan Patterson’s Songs From A Valley Girl EP
Cold Court’s (^_^) / (aka: HANDS UP) EP
maehem99’s Sexual Commerce EP
Bad World’s Maker Of Rules EP
DIVIL’s DIVIL I EP
pyncher’s I Really Mean It This Time EP
Gaeya’s Growth EP
MojoPin’s Out The Door EP
Steve Rachmad’s 3-6-9 EP
The Pines Of Rome’s When You Are As Full As The Moon EP
Mixol’s The Fool EP
