Daily Discovery: The Curious Wonder of “Friends I Barely Know” by Windser

Los Angeles-based songwriter and performer Windser is a hot name in the indie music scene these days, with recent solo releases, along with hit songs from him and the Seattle-based Grammy Award-winning rapper, Macklemore (that have already earned millions of views), the artist is well on his way toward big things.

American Songwriter is premiering Windser’s latest solo single, “Friends I Barely Know,” an acoustic-guitar-driven track that features the musician’s stellar, crystal clear singing voice and reference to a very specific, though peculiar spot in time.

It’s a track about possibility—but what that possibility is, exactly, is a bit unknown at the moment.

“‘Friends I Barely Know’ is about that moment when you walk into a social setting and how you can be surrounded by people but still feel completely isolated and alone,” Windser says of the new single.

The songwriter, who grew up in Santa Cruz, California, says his new EP, on which the new single appears, is about growing up in The Golden State and how the environment of coastal Northern California, especially, influenced his sound.

“[The new single] is a snapshot of a formative teenage experience, loneliness, and finding community amongst strangers,” Windser says. “I used to go to punk and DIY shows in my town at this place called the Zami House. I remember walking into shows and parties there and feeling alone but simultaneously understood. We were all there for a shared purpose, to make and experience art. There was a gritty beauty to it all and it really inspired me from an early age to play music and start bands.”

With that inspiration in his bones, Windser is taking it to the world now. But it all began, originally, early on with another experience with a pal. And a little punk rock creativity.

“During my freshman year of high school,” he says, “I made friends with someone who encouraged me to become a singer. That friend and I started a band and co-wrote our first song called ‘Metropolis,’ which loosely compared the chaos of a city to falling in love with someone.”

He adds, “It was very punk, very to the point, and revolved around a guitar riff and a concise song structure. Punk really left a mark on how I write. I still enjoy writing lyrical melodic songs with tight song structure.”

The self-described “poetic, emotive, dreamy and nostalgic” songwriter says his favorite line on his new single is: Waiting for my day to come, in no man’s land. The deadbeats they said get out while you still can.

And why?

“To me,” Windser says, “there is an element of dystopian horror. Like a line out of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds.”

Check out the new song below. And Windser’s new EP (out now) here.

Photo by Josh Hogan / Courtesy Grand Stand HQ