Listening to Windy & Carl always makes me think of something immense - like on 1997's Antarctica, with all its frosty ruminations. On We Will Always Be, the landscapes are much balmier, the drones sunnier. A bright yellow sunflower adorns the cover of this record, and the music contained within is a welcome thaw to cynicism and ennui.

We Will Always Be started as a Valentine's Gift to Windy from Carl, in response to her solo record, i hate people. Carl spent 18 months dreaming up the material that would become the backbone for these 8 tracks. Windy provides vocals on 4 of these tracks, a very rare occurrence in the W & C ouevre, and it gives a human element to the monolithic sound sculptures, a warm and beating pulse, most notably on 'For Rosa' with its ringing acoustic guitar, the most folksy Windy & Carl track so far, and they wear it well, they do it justice. Windy shouldn't be so shy about her vocals.

The eight tracks that comprise we will always be work as a collective flow, a journey, a daydream; it starts off sparse and builds to an amniotic lava flow that congeals with the album closer, 'Fainting in the Presence of the Lord.' They conjure an astounding array of tones with the rudimentary palette of guitar, pedals, fender rhodes, voice... old school drone, perfected. What you are left with is a suitable soundtrack for daydreaming and staring out the window, or walking at sunset, or spending all night drawing and reading poetry to someone that you love. This music is not merely auditory wallpaper, however, there is poignancy and passion swimming beneath its hypercolor surface. It is subtle and soft-spoken. We Will Always Be is like a sunbeam on yr bedroom wall, even in the depths of night.

Windy & Carl have been plying dreamscapes since 1993, over an impressive array of albums, singles, spread out over various record labels before settling in at the magnificent Kranky Records, out of Chicago. They are a married couple that run a record store in Dearborn, Mi called Stormy Records, named after their cat. They recorded an album in honor of a dead dog. They seem to genuinely like each other. They crack jokes on stage - wry self-effacing humor. They are truly committed to art, to music, to making the world a dreamier, more loving place. They are colossi of the ambient/drone world, but they're always adventuring, conjuring new worlds and perspectives. Exploring their music, refining their love. It is a pleasure to have a new record. We Will Always Be will be my soundtrack for the budding Spring.