For whatever reason, whenever I browse my collection for songs/albums that feel right during winter, I invariably turn to some sort of sparse, finger-picked folk number that brings to mind evergreens and woodsmoke in a land muted by fresh snow and all the other lovely wintery images we enjoy (usually during summer).
Jom Comyn has upset this habit. In the Dark on 99 is in many ways the realist representation of winter, the real-life counterpart to the romantic crunch of snow and hot cocoa. That said, it deals with this in a much more interesting way than merely saying ‘actually, winter is cold and dark and the snow turns to muddy slush…’ The album probes what winter means, what it does to us, how it becomes less a season than some existential force.
The album is available on Bandcamp in digital or vinyl format.