Cameron Winter @ 4th Wall 4/19

Photography by Miguel Gonzales

Review by Logan Breen

Opener Quiet Light

Since the release of Geese’s 2023 album “3D Country,” followed by Cameron Winter’s masterpiece solo album “Heavy Metal,” I’ve felt that Winter is one of the next big names in rock music. His incredible show at the Fourth Wall in Arlington cemented that feeling for me. After being confused by a similarly-named bar on Tremont St., I made my way to the correct venue and was immediately struck by the setting. The Fourth Wall is an ornately decorated movie theater, with beautiful architecture inside the theater room. This also means that there are no bad seats in the venue. Since it’s primarily a movie theater, every seat has a clear, unobstructed view of the main stage. It fit the intimate feel of this show perfectly.

During both the brilliant opener Quiet Light and Cameron Winter, live video footage of the performer was projected on the screen behind them. The footage cycled between a variety of effects. Sometimes it was mirrored, duplicated, changed color, or grainy. I thought this worked decently well during Quiet Light’s set. She began and ended her set with a psychedelic slurry of reverbed vocals, synths, and strings, which matched the trippy visuals behind her. As the show progressed, however, the visuals became more distracting than anything else. The psychedelic lightshow on the screen just was not compatible with the more intimate, soft-spoken vibe of Winter’s set. Winter cracked a few jokes about “interrupting the movie,” behind him, which leads me to believe that the visuals were a choice by the venue rather than Winter or Quiet Light.

Cameron Winter

The music itself, though, was amazing. Quiet Light opened for Cameron Winter, starting promptly at 8:30 p.m. I was admittedly unfamiliar with her music, but her fantastic set won me over immediately. She has a singer-songwriter indie pop kind of vibe. To me, it sounds like somewhere between Ethel Cain and Taylor Swift, with catchy hooks, emotionally charged lyrics, and thick atmosphere. 

Cameron Winter’s set was next, starting at roughly 9:15 p.m. “Heavy Metal” is one of my favorite albums of 2024, and, on a personal note, helped me through some hard times. Seeing songs from that album performed live, along with his singles “Vine” and “Take It With You” (Which made me tear up a little bit!), was an incredible experience for me. He performed with just a piano, stripping down the already sparsely instrumented songs even further compared to the studio versions.

This gave the set a very intimate feel to it and gave Winter himself plenty of space to shine as a solo performer. Between songs (after applause, of course), the audience was dead silent. I felt on the edge of my seat anticipating Winter’s next note, which speaks to how powerful of a performer he is.

My favorite songs of the night were “Take it With You”, and the brilliant encore, “Nausicaa.” As I mentioned earlier, “Take it With You” had me tearing up in my seat. That song is maybe my absolute favorite in his discography, and hearing it live added some extra emotional punch to the absolutely soul-wrenching lyrics. The encore was a super cool rendition of “Nausicaa.” This version was jauntier than the studio version, and the chorus melody was changed completely, making it a super interesting spin on one of my favorite songs of 2024.

I’ll say it again; Cameron Winter feels like one of the next big things in the rock scene. He is an incredible songwriter and a captivating performer. As the show ended, I was in awe, frankly. Cameron Winter is one of the most fascinating (and, in my opinion, best) artists out there right now, and a captivating performer to boot. If you can get yourself to his next tour, I highly recommend it.