Artist: Clay (The Winkler) Bowman
Album: America (2025)
Genre: Jazz, Prog-adjacent, Ambient
Rating: 7 to 10
Reviewer/show: Norina Morales, Afternoon Freeform
The WINKLER and The HARE deliver a hauntingly evocative multi-genre experience that masterfully fuses retro roots with forward-thinking electronic soundscapes. Spearheaded by Houston-based guitarist, visual artist, and electronic composer Clay Bowman (The WINKLER) alongside long-time collaborator Harry Leverette (The HARE), the project draws deeply from Bowman's unique musical lineage. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast in the 1960s and cut his teeth in the post-punk and new wave scenes of the 1980s, Bowman seamlessly blends regional nostalgia with cutting-edge live looping and iOS synthesis. The result—as described on The WINKLER and The HARE Bandcamp—is an "ambient blues" record built "for the clear and present."
Track-by-Track Breakdown
- "America": As the album's sole vocal track, this piece acts as a stark, jazzy thesis statement on contemporary societal anxieties. It moves with a restless energy, keeping one foot planted firmly in the heartland and the other spinning out into The Twilight Zone.
- "Downtown Sundown": A lush, prog-adjacent instrumental that shifts the album into gear. The track leans heavily into rich, ambient atmospheres, capturing the specific, melancholy transition from day to night.
- "Tuxedo Blue": Infused with a distinctly David Lynch-inspired aesthetic, this smoky, dreamy instrumental operates at the moody intersection of jazz and blues. It is a slow-burning highlight that feels like a walk through a neon-lit, noir dreamscape.
- "Yours4Ever": A deeply immersive ambient instrumental that prioritizes texture and space, giving the listener room to breathe and float within the album’s broader electronic topography.
- "Vivian’s Texas Waltz": The record closes on a fascinating stylistic pivot, delivering a retro-Western instrumental that honors Bowman’s Gulf Coast roots while keeping the project’s signature looping style intact.
The Verdict
By colliding straight-ahead jazz, ambient loops, and retro-Western roots, the duo creates a sonic palette that feels simultaneously nostalgic and experimental. You can stream and support their music directly via The WINKLER on Soundcloud, The WINKLER and The HARE Facebook, and the official Winkler and Hare Website.
