Album Review - Kip Winger - From the Moon to the Sun

"From the Moon to the Sun" is Kip Winger's latest stab at artistic expression, in the form of a solo album. Sometimes sleepy, othertimes ghostly, a few Westcoast bleach washed moments and a couple of dark moody tracks to disturb the atmosphere now and then, this is a disc of variety and conscious soul stirring. The tracks have meaning and purpose, laying down the rules of love, the laws of life and a few stabs at storytelling inbetween. It will not appeal to everyone but does have its niche, and comes off much more polished and focused than his meandering "This Conversation Seems Like a Dream". Kip's solo work is far, no - lightyears removed from his melodic excess 80s days as well, and has none of those fun, partying, lust obsessed fluff tracks. I suppose it would have been a bit creepy to have a more mature Kip singing with a leer about teenage girls in this day and age. These are dire, serious pieces, sometimes cynical, and a few with hope. Kip is a man who has been put through his paces and had his limits tested and his musical output reflects those trials and tribulations he has faced down in his own life's journey. Now whether that groundwork makes for a compelling listen depends on how the tune unravels.

The first few songs are like walks through the twisted halls of your soul. "Every Story Told" quakes through the opening like some unstable beast before deciding on this smooth, slick inbetween pace. It's a song based around a yoga instructor's words: "Even though you cant do everything, you can be everything". This would have been comfortable on "Pull" or even "IV". Acoustic provides a soft padding for the voice and drifting piano. Lovely and catchy. The growling negativity of "Nothing" is incredibly harsh and addictive, like one of the stinging tracks from Winger's "Pull". Then the chorus floats in like a puffy dream, throwing curving rainbows of hope who's promising colors are drowned in the blackness of reality. Absolutely fantastic in vocally shaping the sentiments, thoughts and feelings that run through the song like a stormcloud. Sometimes washing it in fat droplets of soothing rain, othertimes harsh as hail pounding from a rip in the boiling clouds on a black summer's day. It is turmoil, trying to hold on to the final shredded bits of something worth believing in.

"Touch the Ground" is so fragile and delicate and buried in a struggle with self loathing and search for love. A smattering of electric guitar notes are all that's needed to convey such a sense of acceptance and perhaps a shimmer of tomorrow's promises can be glimpsed in this brief spray of music. A snapshot of a relationship in an unraveled, frayed state. "Pages and Pages" has the kind of gorgeous piano that David DeFeis is known for, but the song is soft West Coast. The sense of sorrow is so strong, an undercurrent that overflows from the levy and pours across the ground. So simple, sad and emotionally compelling. Life can sweep you away 'til there's nothing left. That's the inspiration of the song, and that reality is so utterly depressing and truthful that it hurts to listen.

"Ghosts" is an attempt at creating a piece of classical music (perhaps for ballet? as it is implied its the first of three movements). It is successful as such but marks a floundering point of the album. Another song such as "Nothing" would have broken up the lackluster pacing, but instead it plods on its own melancholy way. The vocal arrangements for "In Your Eyes Another Life" are strange and haunting. It's about searching for your soulmate through many lifetimes. If "Pages and Pages" was slow, "In Your Eyes" is positively comatose. Not without its merits, but at this time in the album, something with a bit more bite is sorely needed.

Slow and acoustic for "Runaway", a storyteller's piece that's too hushed and unremarkable to leave any kind of lasting impression. The third person perspective disembodies the song from being a personal glimpse and instead forces the listener into the role of voyeur as a girl's life is unraveled and hung out like a piece of dirty laundry for us to observe from afar. Detached, Winger doesn't quite have the subtelty to back away from the situation and seems to put too much of himself in there, making for a jumbled track that is lackluster in every way musically.
Then there's a Caribbean breezy piece in the too-quiet "California". The album deviates from the excellent pace switching and delicious modern trappings into just purely comatose material at this point. It is not til "What We Are" that things get shaken out of first gear. Hell the album might as well have been in park for four songs running, for better or worse. This one is credited to the Beatles' influence on Winger. It has that feel too, a bit of violin here, a nice vocal harmony there. It's rockier ground but doesn't seem pulled together as a whole picture very well. A few crucial brushstrokes seem to be missing, leaving the final product seeming a bit incomplete.

"One Big Game" shudders through some distorted vocals and unique musical choices. It falls together fairly well, spritzes of modern production giving an odd taste at random intervals. There is a darkness simmering here as life is boiled down to just a game, with cruel game masters and bewildered players. "Why" is raw, showcasing the beautiful, masculine voice of Kip Winger in all its tortured glory. He seems to carry the weight of the world and all of our most devastating sins on his own shoulders. This is another compelling song that preaches the ways of forgiveness. Because as Kip says of this track, " forgiveness as something we may never understand, we forgive because it's what heals us." That pretty much sums it up. Why we never learn is a good question, and one that is perhaps unanswerable.

"Reason to Believe" came from the Xcarnation sessions and is mixed up a bit here. A stark opening gives way to a soaring chorus that slaps you in the face with the future of hope and reason to believe. Verses lift it up to soar like a bird struggling to take wing, and its positive message and free flowing feel of hope gives the album a rather soul soothing closure.

Kip Winger's "From the Moon to the Sun" is a lofty accomplishment as an artistic solo album. There are several points he tries to get across and is mostly successful. The strong songs here are incredibly good, especially on multiple listens. Tracks such as the ender, the opener, and "Touch the Ground" have value even out of the context of the album. A couple of songs mar the package overall, mostly "Runaway" and "Ghosts" (even though a decent attempt in its own right, it just doesn't seem to fit in amongst the other songs, but where else could Kip put this?). If one is looking for a breezy album that will tear your soul apart and then put the puzzle pieces back together all in a single run through, then this is the album you are looking for. Surprisingly deep, although both terrorizing and comforting.

Written by Alanna
Monday, April 28, 2008
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