For a moment, it appeared that the ribbon had, indeed, broken.
After two critically acclaimed albums, Pete Lawrie Winfield appeared to be done with his musical brainchild, the band Until the Ribbon Breaks. The darkness of mental health issues triggered by addiction and anxiety had sent him crashing against the proverbial wall. It was over.
Or was it?
Please welcome V I S I T O R, a compelling, deeply soulful sonic renaissance that shows the Wales-born/L.A.-based artist reaching a brilliant new watershed moment of creativity and emotional honesty. The album completes the musical trinity of the extraordinary previous collections A Lesson Unlearnt (2015) and Until the Ribbon Breaks (2018). Despite the undeniable growth displayed across the set’s 10 extraordinary songs, Winfield proudly describes V I S I T O R as a “full-circle moment of sorts. It’s me making music with the same excitement that I felt as a kid. There were no expectations of a result. Just a desire to make something meaningful.”
Until the Ribbon Breaks (also referred to as UTRB) started as a British electronic/pop trio that also featured musicians James Gordon and Elliot Wall. The band's name refers to the custom of making mixtapes that will ideally be played over and over "until the ribbon breaks." Winfield’s first single, “Pressure,” was released in early 2013 and it was accompanied by a homemade video that incorporated scenes from David Lynch’s classic 1997 film Lost Highway. A second track, "2525," was released several months later, after which Winfield earned global fame for remixing hit singles by the Weeknd, Sam Smith, and Lorde – who eventually invited UTRB to open her 2013 North American tour. In addition to wrapping up sessions on the band’s debut album, Winfield also remixed London Grammar’s 2014 smash, "Sights."
It was during the era of UTRB’s self-titled second album that Winfield began to face the fact that he had become dependent on alcohol and drugs. Despite personal turmoil, the album was a critical success, and it spawned the hit alt-pop single “Here Comes the Feeling.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to the hold the band together. Both Gordon and Wall moved on to other projects, while Winfield set forth on a journey of sobriety and healing. “For me, it was game-over,” Winfield says. “I was done with making records.”
But the advent of COVID and renewed creative clarity inspired a new wave of musical creation. Songs started to take the form of V I S I T O R, a collection that traces his recovery, as well as his philosophical view of the world around him. The best of evidence of this new direction can be found in “Everything Else but Rain.” Aside from being the first song written for the album, it is a rare foray into themes of joy and ultimate forgiveness for the typically dark and cynical Winfield. “It was a huge surprise to me that it came out as it did,” he says. “It wound up informing the rest of the album in a variety of ways.”
