Styrofoam Winos

About the show

Styrofoam Winos have always gone with the flow, which makes Any River an apt title for their new album, the follow-up to 2024's Real Time. Their playful approach is bolstered by the chops of seasoned musicians who have performed many hundreds of concerts, both together and as touring members of Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band, MJ Lenderman and the Wind, and as solo artists.

Members Lou Turner, Trevor Nikrant, and Joe Kenkel manage to strike a perfect balance between reverence and irreverence for the musical traditions they’re working within. Their knowledge of the canon is scholarly, but such knowledge is always followed by a wink. It’s the music of experienced shapeshifters, defying easy categorization while remaining instantly recognisable. The way they switch instruments is almost dancelike. It’s the alchemy of three deeply creative musicians playing in service to each other.

Being a fan of the Winos is not dissimilar to being a sports fan. Half the fun of it is understanding – with increasingly greater nuance – the subtleties of each member’s contribution, then trying to predict how these forces will meet to perform miracles.