Photo by Samira Winter

New wave ‘gaze listeners already know that Winter is one of the ethereal underbelly’s best kept secrets, though her prolificity at this stage does precede itself, as the Los Angeles-by-way-of-Brazilian songwriter has been spinning out dreamy music well before it was being referred to as some kind of revival while also being a tangent to your ears by way of many, many guests features along the way with her scene peers. The lo-fi experimental electronic pop duo, Hooky, on the other hand aren’t explicitly shoegaze, though some might argue that alongside their Philly counterparts, They Are Getting a Body of Water and Spirit of the Beehive, they’ve derived their undefinable sound from the other side of the schism. When joining forces on “horseshoe”, the lead single off their collaborative EP, Water Season, none of that matters. Each’s creative corners bend to the right fit regardless despite the puzzling hold Winter’s crush has on her, accentuated by Scott Turner and Sam Silbert stringing her thoughts along with springing guitars and stream of conscious bubble bursts. “All my promises were real / Do you feel?,” she wonders. If there’s any luck in this one, she’ll get the answer she wants…

Hooky & Winter’s Water Season will be released February 14th on Julia’s War.