We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Last Year's Winter

by Christopher Sleightholm

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $5 CAD  or more

     

  • Very limited CD edition
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CDs are still cool. This one has lots of info and lyrics for those who still love physical media.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Last Year's Winter via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Winter 2018 03:05
1. Winter 2018 Sure, winter’s hard, but it’s not too bad, This one is better than the last because that was the worst I’ve had. Are things any better now? It’s doubtful. It’s just different. Ice still makes the same sound when you step on it. And I’m somebody too, who’s just doing the things I do. I tell my cats that everything’s alright. They don’t say nothing because they know I’m fine. I’m like a ghost haunting my own life: Flushing toilets; opening cupboards; treading through doorways and turning on lights. The wind makes the glass crackle and shake, That’s the same wind that blows on her side of the plains. And I’m somebody too, who’s just doing the things I do. I tell my friends that everything’s alright. They don’t say nothing because they know I’m fine.
2.
2. Snow-Covered Windows I cannot see through the snow-covered windows – I don’t know if ever you’ll find me. The numbers on the house are obscured, unseen and unperturbed, Under-defined like they should be. So take all the things that we had, bury them and be glad For the song knows no end in its sound – Our voices twirling around… But I can’t see you coming to me. I won’t see you through snow-covered windows. Don’t stand outside the door in the cold, finish your smoke, I’m froze, Come inside and I’ll warm thee. The fire it is on the stove, I’ve got booze and more smokes, And there’s some soup ready. But is this figure I’m speaking to someone else or really you? The hair coming out from the hood almost looks like it should… But I can’t see you coming to me. I won’t see you through snow-covered windows. Try as I might.
3.
3. Someone With No One Been with too many to name, but I maybe loved about five the same. None of them talk to me now, except the times when I don’t want to talk. Sometimes in a cool evening I’ll smile but I won’t sing, Because the last of the five meant the most to me, at least that’s how it feels lately. I wake up alone in the morning. I look out to find no one’s there. I’m just someone with no one beside them – I’m someone with no one there. It’s not like you were here anyway, you lived at the end of a long highway. The other end of it is here, and last time you were nowhere near. When I drove to see you in the spring we went to the show and we felt something, Now I’m sleeping alone tonight, thinking maybe I’d like you by my side. I wake up alone in the morning. I look out to find no one’s there. I’m just someone with no one beside them – I’m someone with no one there.
4.
4. Tonight, The Highway Is Looking Good Would you hold me like you mean it, like you used to do, Because I am the same man that you always knew. We’ve grown apart dear, though I see you every day, And tonight the highway’s looking good, but tomorrow I know I’d rather be home. Now that the fog has lifted it’s still in your eyes. You ain’t seeing clearly and I’m not sure why, And I know you want to leave me so let me go first. And tonight the highway’s looking good, but tomorrow I know I’d rather be home. We’ve walked these paths before dear, in some forgotten life, Like the dewdrop on the flower in the cold autumn night Will wither and die dear, this life is strange. And tonight the highway’s looking good, but tomorrow I know I’d rather be home.
5.
5. Guess You Never Went Away Sometimes I resent you, but that’s ok, it’s not like you’re here anyway, Everyone’s got someone tangled up inside of them in some kind of way. I didn’t tell you that you never went away – it’s like you wanted to stay Under my pillow where your hair’s still splayed – I guess you never went away. I paint walls and doors and I think of you all day, whatever it’s ok. Sometimes I wish you were here, other times I don’t, I’m happy for another quiet day. I didn’t tell you that you never went away – it’s like you wanted to stay Under my pillow where your hair’s still splayed – I guess you never went away.
6.
6. Halos Of Grass If you lie to me I hope you’re lying in the grass, And it surrounds your head as if it’s a halo, and you’re looking back at me. And if you wait some place, be it for me, or somebody else, I’ll be in the river until you find some. He gathers flowers for you, but he also gathers weeds, And you, you see, you’re not there so stop pretending that you’re really here. One lamp sputters light into the darkness and illuminates you, So on the grass you’ll lay and wait for his coming, or until you find some.
7.
7. Back Along The Edge Of Time When I was high above the wind over your room, You were saying my name as you did things to yourself thinking of me. Trees bark, the sky will grow dark, and you will rhyme with I. Pigeon coo back along the edge of time. Night frogs wail high above the moaning of the leaves, And Mother Universe is probably on our side, and she’ll bring us as one. Trees bark, the sky will grow dark, and you will rhyme with I. Pigeon coo back along the edge of time. The doors you open I sometimes close, The notes you left me (I’m sure you wrote) – If I’d known half a breast exposed means something.
8.
8. A Poem About A Unicorn & A Tree I am not a little bird, a little bee, a little bee, I am me. You are you, for this is true, and you are free to do as you wish to do. Upon the window I can see the elements of you and me. Sometimes I think we’d be a poem about a unicorn and a tree. When I wake from this dream I wonder if you will still be beside me, Because you were there in my arms, I was in your legs, and in your heart always. Poor boy, I wonder where she’s gone, I am not alone and neither is she anymore. There is nothing new to say; nothing new that’s out for you today. But that’s not scary, nor should it be, meaning is only attached to things we put it on.
9.
9. The Heron & The Hare The herons are circling the hare, peppering the sky everywhere. Robin’s cheep to William’s son, “don’t start the hare, for it will run.” The hare might flee through the meadows or the trees, or into the gardens they’ll oft-times go. The whispering wind winds around the bluff, while the birds are singing jolly-o. Now William’s son burrows into dead leaves, the herons scatter and the robins flee, The young man looks out through the trees and in the distance it’s her he sees. The young man’s beside himself again, thinking about what he’s done, He recalls himself betwixt two lovers when he was betrothed to one. The young man’s breathing loses its rhyme, while her footsteps stay in time. The rustle of the leaves drawing near to where he’s hid, she walks up to him and says she knows what he did. Faint and fey, like a nymph in a way, she emerges from the forest naked and fresh. She touches his hand and his blood rushes hard. They fall to the ground and become one flesh. Lay down here my brother, lay down and take your rest, You know there is no other who can take my place. I’ll scurry to the meadow and strangle that hare, Find me the finest feathers, so I can fly from here. I’ll grow wings so beautifully then I will fly from here. He feels her body limply under his, she looks in his eyes and he finishes, He crumples down on top of her, she squirms free looking bonnier, And with a rock in her hand she makes her mark, on the base of his neck she comes down on. She throws the bloody rock into the woods, wings sprout from her back and then she’s gone. When I roved out this May morning no clothing did I wear, Now I’m covered in fine feathers – I’m the heron, he’s the hare. I am no longer bound by any natural laws, I’ve become my own creator; I’m perfect without flaw. So lay down, dear brother. Lay down and take your rest.

about

Christopher Sleightholm keeps busy with his main
project Snake River, but has carved out time to make his second album under his own name; it is called LAST YEAR’S WINTER. Christopher keeps busy recording in his home studio and well as working a guitarist. He played with Cold Manitoba Project (which features members of Blue Rodeo, The Sheepdogs & Deep Dark Woods), which was a studio project assembled to honour Gord Downie’s call to action to all Canadians.

Christopher’s new album is a follow up to his 2018 album, TWO ANIMALS RAGING AT THE STORM OUTSIDE that saw Christopher and band tour Western Canada with alongside fellow Saskatchewan band, Dumb Angel. On TWO ANIMALS Christopher played and sang on the record entirely alone; for LAST YEAR’S WINTER he gathered friends to contribute to the record. Kacy & Clayton, Marshall Burns (Rah Rah), Vanessa Benson (Snake River), Andy Beisel (Kacy & Clayton), and Ian Cameron (Wolf Willow, Zachary Lucky) all appear on various tracks.

Christopher's solo work meets at the cross-section between English folk and American country music, but with twist of 60s psych; in fact the album was almost called “The Folks Lost in the Country.” The record is about losing people in your life, and grappling with the prospect of moving on.

credits

released November 1, 2019

Christopher Sleightholm’s Last Year’s Winter was:
Produced, recorded and mixed by Christopher Sleightholm,
In a basement in Regina, SK between July 2018 – September 2019
Mastered by: Orion Paradis at SoulSound Studios, Regina, SK
Album cover art created by: Amber Pb
Album designed by: Mason Pitzel

All songs by: Christopher Sleightholm

Featuring:
Kacy Anderson - vocals
Andy Beisel - bass, electirc guitar, vocals
Vanessa Benson - vocals
Marshall Burns - acoustic guitar, vocals
Ian Cameron - drums, pedal steel guitar
Clayton Linthicum - acoustic, electric and pedal steel guitars
Christopher Sleightholm - vocals, bass, guitars, drums, percussion, and keyboards

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Snake River regina, Saskatchewan

Music inspired by the residents of Snake River Mountain & Mr. McKruski.

contact / help

Contact Snake River

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Last Year's Winter, you may also like: