There’s a delirium that sets in during these dog days of summer, when the heat won’t break and humidity hangs heavy on the skin, that smudges the border between reality and mirage. Sweat and sunscreen sting the eyes; any attempt to tame hair frizz or body odor is rendered futile. Stripped of creature comforts, we make allowances for the absurd and embrace the grotesque.
Any River, the latest dispatch from Nashville folk rock trio Styrofoam Winos, exists in this hazy in-between: talking dogs and crying eggs, waking dreams of skating on Saturn’s rings, portmanteaus that land somewhere between wordplay and free association. Studded with languid guitar arpeggios, southern-fried riffs, hypnotic basslines, and vocal harmonies that melt the chasms between octaves, the songs on Any River conjure memories of beers spilled around bonfires and overripe tomatoes bursting onto sticky fingers, intimate and carefree.
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The Winos, made up of Lou Turner, Trevor Nikrant, and Joe Kenkel, have spent the past decade performing with heavyweights of alternative Americana: they’ve toured with fellow misfit cowboys like MJ Lenderman and Friendship, and all three have played in the live ensemble for Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band. (The trio also released its last two records, 2021’s self-titled and 2024’s Real Time, via Davis’s Sophomore Lounge label.)
But where Lenderman or Friendship’s Dan Wriggins are masters of a sort of brofundity, rendering philosophical portraits of washed-up athletes and shithead roommates, Styrofoam Winos seem more interested in exploring the untethered subconscious. “Waking up is clocking out of dream time,” Turner sings on “Off My Mind.” On “New Friend,” Nikrant looks at sand slipping through an hourglass and sings, “In my imaginary world, we can all be friends.” “Somebody Wants to Send You a Message” takes its inspiration from a porn bot on Facebook marketplace and twists it into a strange existential quest. On Any River, Styrofoam Winos recast the everyday indignities of adulthood—empty fridges, empty wallets, empty malls—as portals to a higher plane of existence.
The years spent honing their musical rapport on the road are evident on Any River. Turner, Nikrant, and Kenkel rotate instruments across the album, each taking turns on vocals, drums, guitar, and bass. The method could, among a less proficient group of musicians, come off as a fun but limiting gimmick. Instead, it enriches their sound, allowing them to flex between a raucous bar band on “Swimminin” and sweetly winsome folk trio on “Off My Mind.” Some songs, like “BBQ,” are driven by the steady heartbeat of bass and drums, while “I Felt You” is tethered by a trancelike guitar riff. Small flourishes—piano and trumpet on “New Friend,” pedal steel on “Next Thing,” bass clarinet (performed by album producer and Ryan Davis affiliate Jim Marlowe) on “Somebody Wants to Send You a Message”—add texture without overpowering the band’s central groove.
There’s a communal undercurrent to Styrofoam Winos, as if their music was written to be picked up by the audience before the song’s end. Like campfire songs or nursery rhymes, these tracks are both familiar and adaptive, organic and generative. The repetitions on “Pearl,” the mouthful of syllables on “Swimminin,” and the wordless vocalizations on “Gettin’ Down” feel designed to be sung together, their rhymes and melodies meant to be easily intuited through a shared musical lineage of country and folk. Any River is an invitation to a cookout on the astral plane, a warm and weird glimpse into their collective unconscious.
