Windmills

Nothing brings people together on a rainy evening better than a concert at a cozy venue. This past Wednesday, supporters of local music were brought together by a performance of David Vertesi (of Hey Ocean!) who was supported by Windmills and Rosie June at the Anza Club. The show was the last in a series of Western Canadian tour dates in support of Vertesi’s upcoming sophomore record.

Kelowna’s own Windmills (otherwise Cory opened up the evening with enthusiasm and a pocket full of jokes – the best combination for the banter between songs. Experimental-pop is the perfect genre description for Windmills, as the use of a loop pedal paired with his smooth vocals adds nicely to the emotive storytelling in his music.

Rosie June was the second artist of the evening to grace the stage. We previously featured June on the website and were glad that her ethereal vocals were just as dreamy in her live performance. Performing songs from her debut album Listening Post, June also covered Sugar Ray’s “When It’s Over” and adjusted it to fit her dream-pop style.

By the time that David Vertesi went onstage, the crowd full of family, friends, and fans migrated from the comfort of their seats to the front of the stage. The first single, “Loud Talker”, from his upcoming sophomore record was released earlier this month. Vertesi describes the genre of his music to be ‘sad dad cruise ship’, which is featured on one of his t-shirts. It was the first time I had seen Vertesi perform apart from his Hey Ocean! band mates, but the passion for the music was as evident as ever with his solo material. - ASAP Music Blog

Cory Myraas, better known as Windmills, is an experimental loop artist from British Columbia whose ability to create engaging and emotive music captured my attention upon listening to his 2012 album titled "Keep Moving".

Myraas style of music lends itself well to the unique sound he crafts, looping together various elements that take you on a journey of wistful nostalgia. His voice often times is a gentle crooning through which he displays the understated traits of storytelling. He presents his lyrical aptitude within the gradual buildup of layered sequences through which his stories are told. It is his sincere retelling of life's most painful and common experiences that makes the music relatable and worthy of a listen.

Windmills has a mystifying quality about him. Akin to the musician you encounter playing on a park bench who you are unable to turn away from as you find yourself as deeply wrapped into the story as he. There is something undeniably fascinating about this man. Maybe it's the confidence and talent he exudes. Maybe it's his honesty serving as a reminder that he faces the same issues as everyone else. Or maybe it's the hair. Whatever it is his skills do not go unnoticed as he has recently performed for crowds at Rifflandia Festival; and he will be opening for fellow Canadian band Royal Canoe this fall.

I was fortunate enough to catch this gifted and humble gentleman at an opportune time for Q&A in which I was able to inquire into how he got his start, his creative process, his new album, and more. I invite you to check out the exclusive interview and learn more about the face behind the name.

Windmills Keep Moving - Golden Age Review

Act 1 – Windmills
By Kim Anderson
From behind his sunglasses, Cory Myraas of Windmills opened up the annual Tunes Against Tuition concert at TRU on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Windmills performed for a small crowd, at first (at one point it was a lone fan in front of the stage). As the show went on, more students flocked to hear what the commotion was.
Myraas’ performance style is unique. He strikes a note with his guitar, drums, or keyboard and that note loops, creating a seamless, flowing and complete sound. What begins as a single note transforms into a medley of sounds that flows like a river.
Anyone who wasn’t dancing to “Face to a Name,” wasn’t paying attention. Myraas tells a story involving liquid courage and becoming James Dean. His vocals began repeating and looping along with the notes, creating a hazy, foggy feeling that mirrored the story told in his song. His vocal ability was most notable during his version of Coldplay’s “Clocks.”
For his entire set, Myraas made the stage his own. Between swapping instruments and commanding the attention of the audience, Myraas demonstrated why Windmills works and why he is able to continue as a thriving and charismatic one-man band. - The Omega

I then headed over to the elegant Alix Goolden Performance Hall, a former church. First up was Windmills (Cory Myraas), a one-man experimental loop artist with a penchant for self-deprecation and mournful tunes. (excerpt) - Mark Anthony Brennan

Like father, like son

Windmills isn’t the the first Canadian loop artist to be inspired by an old photo of his dad – Dirty Beaches’ 2011 album Badlands was conceived when Alex Zhang Hungtai discovered a snapshot of his father in the 50s and decided to to filter that era’s rockabilly music through distortion and loops. But the connection between the new Windmills EP and Windmills Sr. isn’t about music – it’s about a haircut. Cory explains why a picture of Birger Myraas as a teenager is the cover of Tilting:

“Well the running story was always my hair. My dad would kind of scoff at it and be like – his phrase for it was ‘weeds on a rock’. And I remember finding [the picture] and it was like a moment of extreme clarity, a revelation, like ‘the tables have turned now, what’s up now, Birger?’”

“I saw that picture and I was like “this could‘ve been me at 15, and then this hair was matching mine. I remember seeing this picture and thinking that if I do another album I would love this to be an album cover.”

“My dad got on a ship at the age of 15 and just went to New York and worked and has all these bizarre stories of being in New York in the late 50s early 60s and all this wacky stuff and I mean he worked for like ages on cruise ships all over the world. And anyone who knows my dad knows him as Birger the crazy Norweigan. When I got my tattoos on my arm he got [the same] two, a ship and an anchor, in secret, didn’t tell anybody that he was getting them. And then [I found out from my tattoo artist and I] remember going home and going ‘did you get a tattoo?’ And he’s like ‘…what.’ Like ‘oh no, I’ve been found out.’ So there were these weird two months of him getting tattoos in secret and not telling anybody.”

“I think now he’s just really excited about the EP too… for every parent it might be a fear, your son [saying] ‘oh I want to be a musician’. [But] now, he’s so invested in it, he’s so excited that I’m coming out with a CD. I showed him the test copy and he just laughed and he’s skyping his friends in Norway just sitting there yelling in Norweigan ‘look at this article’ and he’ll show the article and then ‘look at this’ and he’ll slide up the page and there’s his picture.”

On the online version of the Vernon Morning Star article about Windmills, the first facebook comment is from Birger A. Myraas: “That’s my boy.”


Teen girl fan club

“My friend wants to go to Ecotone just because Windmills is there,” our Features Editor Rumnique explains, rolling her eyes, “There’s a whole group of her and these 19-year-old girls who can’t get enough of him and are always ‘ohhhh, Windmills, Windmills…’”

One thing about Cory Myraas, which you might have discovered from looking at our cover, is that he’s a handsome young man. I try to keep it in check by making fun of him on the interent when he does things like mentioning that someone told him he looked like a cross between Leo Dicaprio and Johnny Depp, but there’s not much I can do.

A girl in our class once texted me after one of his shows confessing her undying love for him and asking me to let him know how she felt. At clubs, unfamiliar women who’ve met Cory at a show or in class materialize out of nowhere and spend the rest of their nights watching him dance awkwardly and shouting into his ear over the music. The demographic stats on his first single from Tilting are: Females 13-17, Females 18-25, and Females 35-45.

Windmills is a one-man band, sure – and that band is One Direction. The ladies just love them some Windmills. And Cory generally has no idea how to deal with it. Take, for instance, the packed Andrew Allen shows, which he recapped in our interview:

Cory: “I sold 58 CDs in 15 minutes… it was crazy. I had people going ‘can I get a picture? Can you sign this?’ It’s really weird… I signed my album, I signed Andrew Allen t-shirts, programs, tickets to the show, the backs of iphones, cell phones, camera cases, the weirdest things, and I’m saying ‘this is a sharpie, it’s gonna rub off as soon as you put this in your bag’ and they’re just “I don’t really care!’”

“I signed some girl’s ipod and she came to another show and she’s like ‘can you sign it again? It came off.’ and I was like oh, what a shock.”

“They were the ones that showed up with ‘Windmills’ written down their arms in sharpie too.”

Me: “Did they? Oh boy.”

Cory: “And sat there filming the show.”

Me: “How old were these girls?”

“Aah, average age was probably 14.”

Me; “You have a teen girl fan club. And an our-age girl fan club, to be honest.”

Cory: “And at the Christmas concert I played I had an older woman who said – and I don’t think she meant it like this – that my version of Hallelujah made her ‘hot’.”

(I start laughing)

Cory: “So bless her heart. She also said she’s gonna send my stuff off to CBC’s Q, so that’s nice.”

Me: “Dear Jian, this song made me hot.” - The Phoenix

It’s October 24th 2011, the first freezing day of fall, and Cory Myraas and I are performing in the wind and rain for a dozen people at “Vernon Rivers Day.” Half the audience is either the other performers – a socially-awkward piano prodigy who played a spirited rendition of “Great Balls of Fire” and zipped his finger along the keyboard every 20 seconds and a cute singer-songwriter girl who turned out to be, uh, fifteen – or their parents.

A year later, Myraas was playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 750 people.

When I first met Cory, better-known as Vernon-based loop artist Windmills, he wore red glsses all the time and was the lead singer of local indie-rock quartet Poor Little Rich Girl. After the band broke up in late 2012 and the rest of the guys formed bar-rock mainstay Paperboy, Cory started experimenting with his loop machine and playing solo shows as one-man band Windmills. He doesn’t sound like anyone else around here -Jeff Buckley is perhaps the closest analogue to his style- and he doesn’t perform like anyone else around here either, building songs in front of the audience on his loop pedal.

In eary 2012 Cory released his first album, Keep Moving, and a Twilight-soundtrack-esque video for the first single, and then things took off. He picked up a FACTOR grant to fund another record and then he started finding his way onto the bill for half the shows in the Okanagan, playing thirty shows in six months. In October, he opened twice for fellow Vernon boy Andrew Allen, (basically Jack Johnson but with the letter “A”). Windmills sold fifty-eight copies of Keep Moving in fifteen minutes during the second show’s intermission. He may not be in the big leagues yet, sure, but in terms of the Okanagan scene Windmills is having a golden-glove season.

All last fall, when he wasn’t performing at these concerts or finishing his BA here at UBCO, Cory was recording his new EP, Tilting. The title refers to Don Quixote famously “tilting at windmills”, raising hisl ance to charge down imaginary giants, and the EP’s themes revolve around the similar self-deluding efforts that fill everyday life. The front cover is an old picture of Cory’s father with the distinctive Windmills haircut, and tree of the five song titles involve classic literary in a shameless attempt to justify blowing four years on an English degree. More instrumental and more abstract, the EP doesn’t feature any of the reverses and double-time effects that characterized both the first album and Windmills shows.

“I have a fuller understanding of the pedal now,” he explained, “[and] I didn’t want the effects to be a gimmick.”

But the looping itself is anything but a gimmick in Windmills songs, each of which has to be written with the equipment in mind. “For me the loop becomes something that’s essential. Because of the limitations the pedal gives me and because I only have the set amount of time and I don’t have the option of taking something out and bringing it back in, it forces me to get past just filling it out because I can, and I don’t want to add something that isn’t crucial to the song.”

Instead of sitting down with a pen and an acoustic guitar, Cory’s songs begin with a few distinctive notes and grow on the pedal. “I’ll spend probably an afternoon on it and record thirty little videos on my iphone of just looping it and then trying this vocal tape and [going] back and seeing what will work. It’s so much different that when I was with other bands because you’ve got that feedback element instantly […] whereas with what I’m doing I don’t get that feedback until I’m with an audience.”

When he’s in front of an audience, the process he uses to create his songs becomes part of the performance: the crowd sees and hears every song being built on the sample machine out of drums and guitar riffs and hand claps. This access to the process is a huge part of the Windmills experience and the Windmills appeal; for the audience it’s like those sushi bars where you can watch the chefs working.

Where most live or acoustic covers just strip a song down, Cory is able to build it back up with his onstage machinery. “I can bring in elements that aren’t in the original and make something different,” he explains. “[The audience] might not know the song at first but then once everything is looped and the vocals start and it clicks with them that it’s like ‘oh shit, this is that song. It’s a lot more interesting [seeing] their reactions than just coming out with a band and going one, two, three, four, and then okay everybody knows the song.”



For Cory, the Windmills project isn’t just a stage name, it’s a performance in itself.

“From the get-go I didn’t want to go out there as Cory Myraas. Mostly because I thought it didn’t have a very nice ring to it, [but also] what I was doing wasn’t just a singer-songwriter with a guitar; with the looping elements, so it made it a little bit more of a persona.”

One of the main components of - The Phoenix

There’s something incredibly striking about the few notes that carry on throughout this song.

Sounds like: repent and accept - Alan Cross

On Saturday night around 7:30, Cory Myraas took to the stage at Streaming Cafe in Kelowna. The place was sold out almost instantly and mostly everyone was seated, creating a perfect atmosphere for this experimental loop artist.

Myraas played a few tracks off his first album titled “Keep Moving” as well as the new material off his EP, “Tilting” — which he saved for later in the evening. What caught me most off guard was his interpretation of “Hallelujah” and his newest, unreleased track “Her’s Place.” Myraas interpretation of “Hallelujah” was a breathtaking journey of ambient melodies that left the audience including myself, in a state of serene bliss.



“Her’s Place” is a beautiful song inspired by Myraas’ grandmas cottage in northern Ontario, it starts off with an slow, heart-felt guitar loop that’s ambient and reminiscent of a beautiful Canadian landscape. The lyrics: “As I’m awakened by giants as passing trains/As they rattle on. Past rivers and mountains little lakes/Oh those summer days, I miss them now,” capture a past childhood and nostalgic memories of another place and time, which you can clearly pick up on while listening to this song.


The way Myraas expresses such subtlety in his lyrical choice, really brings a lot more to the table in terms of emotions and I was completely drawn into his sounds. You know when you’re witnessing something first hand and it feels right, it feels as though what you’re experiencing was meant to happen, not only to yourself but to the performer, that’s how I felt this night seeing Myraas perform.

The concert was one of the best shows I have seen to date this year. Everyone was included into the performance via twitter post readings and inside jokes, it made the evening feel comfortable, warm and friendly. Myraas stage performance and modest persona shone through, every step of the way.

Another moment that stands out is when Myraas asked the audience to judge his newest song, which I mentioned earlier. That participation is important when you’re going to see a one man band and Myraas pulls it off with ease.


After Myraas’ set, most of the audience stuck around, talking amongst friends and even getting signed copies of Windmills new EP. Others, were discussing their evening plans and all in all the mood was of excitement and inspiration. At least for me it was, I left the evening feeling uplifted, refreshed and proud. Proud of watching someone I consider a friend have come so far with his beautiful articulation of his art in music.

If you have not yet checked out this amazing band, please do so here. You can also check out the live streaming of Myraas’ performance here. - Awesome Okanagan

On Saturday night around 7:30, Cory Myraas took to the stage at Streaming Cafe in Kelowna. The place was sold out almost instantly and mostly everyone was seated, creating a perfect atmosphere for this experimental loop artist.

Myraas played a few tracks off his first album titled “Keep Moving” as well as the new material off his EP, “Tilting” — which he saved for later in the evening. What caught me most off guard was his interpretation of “Hallelujah” and his newest, unreleased track “Her’s Place.” Myraas interpretation of “Hallelujah” was a breathtaking journey of ambient melodies that left the audience including myself, in a state of serene bliss.



“Her’s Place” is a beautiful song inspired by Myraas’ grandmas cottage in northern Ontario, it starts off with an slow, heart-felt guitar loop that’s ambient and reminiscent of a beautiful Canadian landscape. The lyrics: “As I’m awakened by giants as passing trains/As they rattle on. Past rivers and mountains little lakes/Oh those summer days, I miss them now,” capture a past childhood and nostalgic memories of another place and time, which you can clearly pick up on while listening to this song.


The way Myraas expresses such subtlety in his lyrical choice, really brings a lot more to the table in terms of emotions and I was completely drawn into his sounds. You know when you’re witnessing something first hand and it feels right, it feels as though what you’re experiencing was meant to happen, not only to yourself but to the performer, that’s how I felt this night seeing Myraas perform.

The concert was one of the best shows I have seen to date this year. Everyone was included into the performance via twitter post readings and inside jokes, it made the evening feel comfortable, warm and friendly. Myraas stage performance and modest persona shone through, every step of the way.

Another moment that stands out is when Myraas asked the audience to judge his newest song, which I mentioned earlier. That participation is important when you’re going to see a one man band and Myraas pulls it off with ease.


After Myraas’ set, most of the audience stuck around, talking amongst friends and even getting signed copies of Windmills new EP. Others, were discussing their evening plans and all in all the mood was of excitement and inspiration. At least for me it was, I left the evening feeling uplifted, refreshed and proud. Proud of watching someone I consider a friend have come so far with his beautiful articulation of his art in music.

If you have not yet checked out this amazing band, please do so here. You can also check out the live streaming of Myraas’ performance here. - Awesome Okanagan

In the novel Don Quixote, Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes wrote of his title hero going on the attack, tilting his lance at the structures, believing they were giants.

Dutch renaissance painters often included them in their landscapes – with their stony trunks and giant arms sweeping the expanse to harness the wind and generate energy.

For a Vernon musician, windmills best describes his work ethic: they keep moving.

That philosophy, if you will, is what Cory Myraas has followed since he became a solo artist known as Windmills more than a year ago.

“The name Windmills came up around the time I began to take myself seriously as a solo artist,” said Myraas, who previously was a member of local bands Poor Little Rich Girl and New Clear Sound. “I was hanging out with friends and the topic of where you would find old-style windmills outside of Amsterdam came up. Someone said windmills in Wisconsin. Something stuck. I liked the fact that they were constantly in motion. It worked well with what I do.”

That motto, “Windmills keep moving,” is a descriptor of what the 24-year-old Vernon Secondary School grad has been about for the past year, constantly in flux, whiling hours in his studio, writing songs, harnessing loop technology, and performing.

An English major who graduated in December with a bachelor of arts from UBC Okanagan, Windmills is now a multi-faceted musician whose craft can be best described as evolving.

Those who have seen him perform live know that Windmills melds classic instrumentation and technology to create his wall of sound. With an electric guitar and a floor tom drum, which acts as a bass, accented with rim shots and tambourine, Windmills records his instruments using a delay pedal and then loops them back to create the effect of a full band. The result is lush orchestration complemented by Windmills’ clear vocals, which he also loops to create backup harmonies.

“Without a loop, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do,” he said. “Mine is not a typical loop pedal, which can usually record over any mistakes. When I hit the start, if I mess up, I have to start again. I don’t have control over the tempo, and I only have 14 seconds to create the loop.”

As can be imagined, using those methods in a live situation requires a certain amount of concentration, something Windmills has learned to balance this past year through his performances.

He is often asked to open for bands in both Vernon and Kelowna (besides an October show with Andrew Allen, he also took the stage at last summer’s Riot on the Roof at the Vernon Public Art Gallery and with locals Jodi Pederson and Raquel Warchol at Powerhouse Theatre in December) and he is also making a name for himself as a headliner holding shows at Kelowna’s Streaming Café as well as performing for the POP Okanagan Festival.

“Before, I had three guys with me, so those first few shows where I laid it bare were a bit nerve wracking. It’s complicated to do what I am doing. You have to pay attention and also talk to the crowd.”

Windmills’ work ethic has also resulted in two recordings. The first, aptly titled Keep Moving, was released a year ago this month, and his latest, Tilting, an allegorical reference to Don Quixote, is about to be released in February.

“(Keep Moving) started with a skeleton of songs... I was being asked to open for these bands, and I wanted a physical disc to hand out at the shows. I went back and forth between digital download and having something physical,” he said.

Opting for both, the studio sessions, engineered by former Poor Little Rich Girl bandmate Rob Raybould, resulted in the nine-song album that was released on Jan. 27. Keep Moving also allowed Windmills to apply for a FACTOR (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records) grant.

He sent FACTOR one song from the album, Great Divide, in November and was approved for the grant in March. Getting the word out through social media, and on various websites, also helped the album gain attention, with reviews coming from Russia, the U.K. and Europe. Great Divide was also used for the promotion of Riot on the Roof on CBC Radio.

“I had people telling me to come and play in Australia and I was sending CDs out to people in Sweden and Germany,” said Windmills. “The FACTOR reimbursement was also huge. It put me back at zero, so I could get started on my next project.”

The songs also triggered an innate response in listeners, who told Windmills of a personal memory or experience that the music evoked.

“That’s humbling. Making music is selfish, so when you hear that you’ve connected with others when you weren’t expecting to, it’s great.”

Wanting to continue on that momentum, Windmills set off to release a five-track EP in October. However, the project was postponed when summer allergies prevented him from recording the vocals. Instead, he performed one of his more successful shows in Vernon, opening for Andrew Allen on his two concert date - Vernon Morning Star

“I've got a story lend me your ear… these words, they'll echo with the fallen tongues of poets, drunks, and thieves... and that sounds good to me.” – From the soon to be released song, “Things Fall Apart”, by Windmills.


Cory Myraas, the gifted man behind local solo act, Windmills, is set to release his second record on February 9th. If you’ve been keeping an eye on the Kelowna music scene over the last little while, or you've read this column piece, or listened to this episode of the Music City Podcast, you’ll be familiar with Cory's work. However, if you're unfamiliar with Windmills, please allow me to acquaint you. Windmills began in 2011 and makes experimental Indie rock music. While his music is the work of just one man, it could easily be mistaken as the product of a band. That's because Windmills utilizes a looping technique in his music. In essence, he repeats certain vocal elements and instrument sounds in his act. He layers these pieces to create the backing track to his songs. He does this not only on his records, but at his live performances too. This gives a great depth to the music created by Windmills and enables him to create a sound that is much more than you might expect from one man.


His soon to be released EP is a five track offering entitled Tilting, and much like his debut album, 2012’s, Keep Moving, the record is a quality piece of work. In fact, Tilting is an excellent addition to the indie-rock landscape, and I don't just mean the Kelowna indie-rock landscape, I mean the Canadian scene in general. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that. Tilting is the work of a very talented musician. Filled with anguished lyrics, such as these from, “Things Fall Apart”, the EP’s first track, “As I drag myself through these naked streets there's a part of me that clearly sees the center, simply cannot hold. Things fall apart. Things fall apart…” or these from, “Architects”, the third track on the EP, “Everyone I've learned to love, I've slowly learned to fear.” As you can tell by those snippets, the EP is filled with lyrics that give it a real haunting quality. The catchy hooks and gentle melodies composed by Windmills are juxtaposed within songs that lament love lost and broken relationships. The lyrics are further complemented by guitar work that expresses the sadness contained within the lyrics. The EP is powerful in that you are almost caressed with pain, as Windmills invites you into his suffering. Tilting will make an excellent addition to your music collection. I encourage you to buy this record and catch a live performance from Windmills. You will not regret it.



(Photo credit: Valaura Vedan) Windmills at TGFM: A Very Indie Thanksgiving


With that in mind, the release of Tilting is taking place at the Streaming Cafe on February 9th at 8pm. Windmills will be performing and James Roy from local band, JoyfulDoor, will be opening. Tickets are available for $8. As with other shows at the Streaming Cafe, the performance will be live streamed on the cafe's website. In addition, Windmills will also be playing at Fields of Green's upcoming EP release show too. That show is taking place at the Kelowna Community Theatre on February 21st, 2013 at 8pm (click HERE for additional details.) You can also catch Windmills at ecotone 2013, which is taking place at the Rotary Centre for the Arts on February 2nd at 4pm (click HERE for additional details.)


I'd also like to add that I am going to be interviewing Windmills ahead of the release of Tilting. The video from our meeting will be posted soon, so keep an eye out for that. - Welcome to Kelowna

Yesterday evening in an alleyway outside of Milkcrate records, I was lucky enough to meet up with Cory Myraas of “Windmills” and we talked about his new EP as well as what he’s been up to since the last time we got together.



What was your inspiration for your E.P?
Musically, I’ve been listening to a lot of Brian Eno’s stuff and so I wanted to take that inspiration and focus on production. Keeping things polished and as tight as possible.

How would you say your music style is changing?
In my opinion, I’ve gotten a lot smarter with how to use my equipment, so it’s not so much of a battle as it was before. Learning from that, I wanted to work more on producing a songwriters record.

Why did you pick the title?
It comes from a phrase from the book “Don Quixote” and in the book he charges windmills with a lance, because he thinks they’re giants. It’s referred to as “tilting at windmills”. I thought that the title would work well with the themes of the record, and how the oversimplification of things isn’t always honest and pure. Thematically it tied in with the lyrics and the way everything came together.

When can we expect a full-length album?
Probably not for awhile, I don’t want to peg myself down. Right now, I think I want to tour extensively and polish my music as I go.

So do you have plans for touring?
Yeah, as it’s going right now I’m getting opportunities from all over. I’ve been working on just touching base with people from wherever I can.

What’s been going on since last time we spoke?
Just playing shows, I’ve been working on the record a lot too. I’ve been really lucky to have a feature in Vernon and I might be doing something for CBC radio, so yeah just been working on my material and trying to get my name out there.

–

If you have yet to check out WINDMILLS, I highly recommend Myraas’ music. His style blends a singer/songwriters passion into an ambient, experimental sound.

When someone can write complex lyrics and also such concise short lyrics such as “Hold me in suspense, before I lose my head. Hold me in your arms, before we kiss goodnight”, without taking away from the experience of the song, you know you’re listening to pure talent.

That’s just one example that stood out, so do yourself a favour and pick up his album “Keep Moving” and stay tuned for his EP release of “Tilting” which comes out February 9th at Streaming Cafe in Kelowna. - Awesome Okanagan

Last year, I interviewed a Canadian loop artist – Windmills aka Cory Myraas, who is about to release his new EP called Tilting this week (February 9th), and the very lucky me has had the privilege to listen to this stunning piece of work before it’s available to all of you music lovers.



At the time of our interview Cory spoke about his excitement for this EP and described it as a more advanced, and a step forward from his previous record - Keep Moving. And after hearing Tilting from start to finish, I have to say that Windmills really keep moving in the best direction possible. This gifted artist composes music that’s nothing like you’ve heard before. His unique creation process draws a colourful world of a truly original sound and vocals, all full of depth and meaning. It has such a charismatic appeal and you find yourself wondering, how it is even possible to master something so special. But it’s here, stretching towards you and taking you into its world.

The first track - Things Fall Apart engages you with its magnificent melody and lyrics ” And these words, they’ll echo with the fallen tongues of poets, drunks, and thieves… and that sounds good to me”. There is something beautiful and heartbreaking happening here…


The following song - A Body At Rest features soft guitar tunes and a few simple but powerful words, leaving you in awe of the true beauty of music and its never ending spells, while Architects makes us question different affairs as we get lost in Cory’s songwriting “But now I’m left with all but words, and questions still remain defining what is sinister and adding up the blame”.

Gentle guitar riffs, calming melodies, the sincerity in Cory’s voice, goose bumps all over… all these remain with the following tracks Thirst (Water, Water Everywhere…) and the beautifully mastered Tilting, which closes the record with “But maybe I was blind, I couldn’t realize that with time, you always hurt the ones that will come asking for more”.

Windmills take us on a pure, heartfelt journey with this 5-track EP full of emotion and relatable matters. It’s truly compelling.

One thing is for sure: Windmills keep moving us. - Music Gets Me By