Wintersleep

Wintersleep came together in 2001 as a Nova Scotia-based band whose name proved especially apt for the region. At first the group belonged to Dependent Music, the Nova Scotia label and artists’ collective that issued their opening pair of recordings: the self-titled Wintersleep in 2003 and an untitled full-length in 2005, both arriving while the musicians were still establishing themselves. In 2006 the band stepped up to major-label status by signing with Labwork, an EMI Canada subsidiary. Vocalist-guitarist Paul Murphy, guitarist-keyboardist Tim D’Eon, bassist Jud Haynes, keyboardist Jon Samuel, and drummer Loel Campbell then watched their first two albums receive fresh editions on the new imprint, each augmented with bonus tracks. Haynes departed in 2007; Mike Bigelow stepped in shortly afterward, allowing the lineup to complete its third album, Welcome to the Night Sky, which earned a Juno award in 2008. Capitalizing on that momentum, Wintersleep returned in 2010 with New Inheritors, an album that climbed to number twelve on the Canadian charts. The band kept stretching its sound by enlisting co-producers Dave Fridmann and Tony Doogan for the widely praised 2012 release Ho Human. A worldwide deal with Dine Alone Records was announced in late 2015, and early the following year the group unveiled its sixth album, The Great Detachment.