By – Jackie Lo

Shower Curtain is a four-piece NYC band led by Brazilian-American artist Victoria Winter (vocals/guitar), Ethan Williams (guitar/vocals), Sean Terrell (drums), and Cody Hudgins (bass). Their self- produced debut album words from a wishing well is out today via Angel Tapes/Fire Talk Records. Described as “bedroomgaze” this album will bring you back to the nostalgia of the 90s, filling you with fuzzy guitars, layered female vocals and covers early adulthood experiences written from Winter’s first few years living in NYC.

The opening track “Benadryl Man” is one of my favorite tracks on the album with lots of great guitar feedback and beautifully menacing strings that elicit anxiety performed by Catcher’s Zach Mezzo (violin) and wince’s Willen Ren (cello). You can picture yourself laying in bed and unable to sleep with the line “Everytime I go to bed / there’s a man sitting on the edge / of my purple velvet couch” and know that feeling of anxiety, of depression, of adolescent unease, and of your home not being your home yet.Next up is “Wish You Well” which is one of the last songs written for the album and is absolutely the stand out track for me. It builds beautifully with repeated  “I thought you wished me well” that you find yourself singing along with. The sweet vocal delivery makes the heartbreak a little harder when you get to the lines “i thought you were my favorite / now I can’t see it” into the outro of “Wish You Well”.Other favorites include “Take Me Home” with its crunchy fuzz guitars at the chorus with “take me home / don’t want to be alone” that is one of my favorite parts of the album. “Put Me On A Shelf” is the perfect soft loud soft and when the chorus hits and the pretty vocals over fuzz overdriven guitars at “where I exist – put me on a shelf” makes this 90s kid very happy.

“If one wishes into a wishing well, I’d like to believe that there is a reason why that wish would or wouldn’t come true,” Winter says of the album’s title. Give it a listen. Make your own wishes and relish in the feelings of the unknown. I know this album will make my favorites list this year.