The Long Winters

John Roderick, the focal point of the Long Winters, gets by with a little help from some noteworthy friends on the band's latest album, When I Pretend to Fall, released last year on the Barsuk imprint. The Posies' Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow (who co-produced Fall), plus the Young Fresh...

By Michael Roberts

May 27, 2004

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John Roderick, the focal point of the Long Winters, gets by with a little help from some noteworthy friends on the band's latest album, When I Pretend to Fall, released last year on the Barsuk imprint. The Posies' Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow (who co-produced Fall), plus the Young Fresh Fellows' Scott McCaughey and REM's Peter Buck, all contribute to the disc. As these references suggest, the Long Winters, which also features keyboardist Sean Nelson, drummer Michael Shilling and bassist/accordionist Eric Corson, specialize in tuneful pop with an indie sensibility. Roderick can be precious at times, but he's got a self-deprecating sense of humor that he exhibits on the raucous "Prom Night at Hater High" and the brass-happy "Scared Straight," which concludes with Our Hero in the company of "Little Miss Mean Mini-bar Guard." While these tunes and others tend to be zanier than those by the Decemberists, whom the group is supporting on its current tour, the two acts share a fondness for melody, verbosity and strange juxtapositions that mark Roderick and Decemberists leader Colin Meloy as kindred spirits. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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