Winona - 'Rosebud' (Absolute) Released 10/03/08

Winona is a woman without a past and a band with an infinite future… or so the press release says; in reality, Winona is the shared imagination of award winning composer Craig Armstrong (receiver of three Ivor Novello’s, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA for Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and a Grammy for ‘Ray’) and electro fiend Scott Fraser. Add to that collective vision the haunting vocals of Lucy Pullin and the soft, sultry, spoken word interludes of French actress Laurence Ashley and that vision is expertly realised through their debut album. It’s an album that fuses two main elements; the cinematic vastness and narrative as befits a musician of Armstrong’s calibre and the expansive styling’s of electronica aficionado Fraser; these combined have all the makings of a damn interesting album.

Bearing in mind the accolades associated with Armstrong and Fraser, there’s a certain amount of expectation connected with this project and the release of 'Rosebud’ can do one of two things; fall flat on its face or shine. First and foremost, this is an album, not an assortment of collected tracks and without using the word concept it creates and holds definitive form and shape. That form is initially moulded by the vocal free opening track ‘The White Room’; space age in feel, cold and detached, filmic and well structured it’s immediately intriguing and leaves you inexplicably wanting more. Whilst the opener has the potential of melting into an opiate induced trance, the following track shatters that initial premise.

Utilising Pullin and Ashley for the first time, ‘Celebrity’ delves into recognisable yet delicate European dance-floor beats, the kind employed by the likes of Kylie and Madonna (Armstrong in fact worked on Madonna’s ‘Ray Of Light’ album) and almost feels out of place. This commercially associated sound is mirrored in the restrained head **** fuzz that the pinpoint yet abandoned hypnotic beats of ‘Without You’ and ‘If Only’ create. There are also comparisons to be made between ‘You Can Dance I Can’t’ and ‘In Transit’ which evolve like a Balearic sunrise after a pill affected night before. The real beauty in Winona’s catalogue lies in their cinematic foresight and follows on from the albums lead track. ‘Alpine Tunnel’, ‘Max’, ‘De Nada’ and ‘Indigenous’ are structurally intelligent, floatingly fragmented and threaten an unspecified menace, yet promise glimpses of attainable hope at the same time.

Although cinematic implies associated images, the tracks are so strong and emotive that they create an undiluted imagery of their own. The penultimate track ‘Always’ once more features the irresistible wordplay of Laurence Ashley alongside a stunning piano and reads like a highly personal handwritten letter that depending on your point of view contains either good or bad news. Cinematic also implies a plot and cast and Winona could well be the lead character of the story, the final track follows on from this in the form of ‘Winona Falls’; solemn and distressed, it’s vast, ethereal, immensely lonely and could signal the death of our heroine.

So back to the original question of ‘Rosebud’ either falling flat on its face or shining and there is in fact no categorical answer as the album creates scenarios rather than provide conclusions. With immensely high production values, ‘Rosebud’ is best described as unforgiving cinematic glacial European pop with an intelligently textured twist, its musicality is spectacular but it plays to a niche audience, which is OK as some of the best films out there do exactly the same.