Track-by-Track: Ginger Winn's Sun-Kissed Debut Album 'Stop-Motion'

Singer/songwriter Ginger Winn takes us track-by-track through her sweet, stirring, and sun-kissed debut album ‘Stop-Motion,’ an intimate and honest snapshot of the full spectrum of emotion and experience, introducing a budding artist with a heart of gold and the voice to match.

for fans of Taylor Swift, Samia, dodie

Stream: “Off-Course” – Ginger Winn

You press play, take the carousel ride, and every song sounds like pieces of a cohesive whole.

The light of the sun shines warm, bold, and bright throughout Ginger Winn’s debut album.

Forever a means of connection – to ourselves, to each other, and to the world at large – music has long been one of the special vessels through which we pause our busy lives, step back from the noise, and see the world through a new lens. This has been Winn’s experience for as long as she can remember, and the singer/songwriter’s ten-track record embraces that concept with outstretched arms, weaving listeners through ten radiant, comforting, and deeply expressive songs dwelling in the sweet depths of reflection and self-discovery. A tender, dulcet musical daydream, Stop-Motion is a sun-kissed and folk-tinged reverie full of life’s highs and lows, hopes and heartaches, ebbs and flows. It’s an honest snapshot of the full spectrum of emotion and experience, introducing a budding artist with a heart of gold and the voice to match.

'STOP-MOTION' album cover - Ginger Winn — Stop-Motion – Ginger Winn

Peeking through binoculars
I think I see ranunculus
I hope I’m going up course
Another weekend off course
Close my eyes and open doors
I’ve never been out here before
I’ve never been scared of claws
The after show of the tour
Kick my feet up, pop the cork
You won’t be seeing him no more
Care for myself, I’m cleaning pores
Time to explore

They talk the talk
And I walk the walk
I am overboard, bored
I’m up of course
Another weekend gone off course

Released June 7, 2024 via Keep Good Company Records, Stop-Motion is as intimate as it is inspiring: Produced by Diamond Award-winning composer, producer, arranger, and recording engineer David Baron (The Lumineers, Noah Kahan, Shawn Mendes), Ginger Winn’s debut album shines through its candid storytelling, colorful melodicism, and spellbinding instrumental work. It’s a best-foot-forward South Carolina-born, South Africa-based singer/songwriter, for whom music has been a constant from day one.

Ginger Winn 'Stop-Motion' © Brooklyn Zeh — Ginger Winn ‘Stop-Motion’ © Brooklyn Zeh

“I have been making music since I was born,” Winn tells Atwood Magazine. “When I was born, my dad got me a ukulele because I’m part Hawaiian. For me it was music or bust. I never had plans of doing anything with my life but making music. I dropped out of school, I bypassed college, and but-for working for a few years as a pastry chef, it was always music.”

It’s one thing to write, record, and sing songs, and another to subsist off music as a viable career – so Winn got creative. “I figured out how to make money with music by freelancing online,” she explains. “One of the websites I posted on was Upwork. One day I saw a post to make a song from an archive of poems. I grew up doing that with my mom, so it felt perfect. The poster ended up being Tina Baione and the poems were her husband, Matt’s. They heard the song, which turned into ‘Super 8,’ track 2 on Stop-Motion and, from what they tell me, were blown away. Matt reached out and asked if I’d want to keep working together. We did that.”

“After some time, Matt reached out to David Baron on a lark because he loved the sound of Brightside by The Lumineers so much. David answered because the subject line was Grahamsville (a hamlet in upstate New York) and David happened to be there for the first time that past weekend. David eventually agreed to produce a song or two, and that expanded to a full album. We had to make a 10-song album in three weeks. We planned for months, had full pitch decks, mood boards for each song, full demos for each, sequencing set, Side A vs. Side B, etc., so when we got to the studio it was immediately go-time.”

**Winn held nothing back on Stop-Motion, going in with the idea to capture as many sides to herself as she could while crafting a cohesive, connective musical journey.**

Some songs are autobiographical and other stories belong to other people, but all are hers insofar as they capture a slice of life, as seen and heard through her eyes and ears.

“The vision was to create an album that felt like Brightside – you press play, take the carousel ride, and every song sounds like pieces of a cohesive whole,” she smiles. “I also really wanted the album to be uplifting, positive, and nourishing for the souls of our listeners. Something that really fills their cup and makes them feel like they’re better off with this album in their life. I know I’m better off with this album in my life. It changed in that the demos were generally longer and had more intros and outros on each. We achieved that vision; we just never would have done it without David producing the album version of the demos. The melodies all stayed the same, but we sped up in some areas, slowed down in others, wrote some lyrics on the spot, and instrumentation changed on a bunch.”

“This album is a tapestry of who I am, where I am at in life, where I’ve been, and where I want to go,” she adds. “There are fragments of my reality, my imagination, my darkness, my lightness, and everything in between weaved together to create a snapshot of me as an artist. For a debut album I gave a little bit of everything – themes, moods, feels, vibes – so people can really get to know me, as I get to know myself. As an artist, this album captures my ability to skate across different sounds, and almost genres, without ever sounding like anything but myself. I thoroughly enjoy making all different kinds of sounds and songs – especially thanks to my time as a freelancer – so this album really showcases my ability to do that while always being me.”

**She describes Stop-Motion as escapist, whimsical, and contemplative. The album’s title, she says, is quite literal and somewhat self-referential.**

“The themes and message of the album is to do exactly that – stop the constant motion of your life, take a step back, examine where you are, and decide where you want to go,” she says. “The making of this album stopped by motion in life and forced me to do all these things as well. The goal is for the listener to be able to stop their own motion by just pressing play on this album and hopefully walking away with feelings and ideas that help them decide where they are going.”

Pre-release singles like “Super 8” and “Frosting” proved fitting glimpses into the album’s overall look and feel; “Frosting,” which premiered on Atwood Magazine this past April, is a gentle, sweet, and dreamy acoustic reverie that finds Winn telling her own story of ditching her day job and diving headfirst into music. “Super 8,” Winn’s warm and wondrous, hazy and heartfelt debut (released in March), found the singer/songwriter basking in sweet dreams of love everlasting, with glistening guitars, shimmering drums, and smoldering horns enriching her delicate, ethereal, and impassioned singing voice.

“This song is about dreaming of love, falling into it, and celebrating it, a story of the little moments we all share,” she shared earlier this year. “Where your imagination shows you what it’s like to fall in love with a stranger, walk down a road in Italy you’ve never been, or finally making it to New York City – these dreams feel so out of reach for so many of us, but at the same time, they are what drives all of us.”

Further highlights include Stop-Motion‘s spirited opening track “Off-Course” – a delightfully intense, invigorating song dwelling in the depths of self-discovery and inner reckoning – and “Nightmares Are Free, but Dreams Are Sold,” an aching acoustic folk tune whose raw lyrics and vulnerable delivery call to mind the likes of Adrianne Lenker, Mitski, and Faye Webster. Tunes like “Autumn Leaves,” “Coddiwomple,” and “Pitta Patta” on the album’s back half reveal Winn’s love for Taylor Swift’s music, the first two songs evoking the folk-pop sonic templates of folklore and evermore, and the latter track capturing the unbridled pop energy of 1989.

A fantastic, wholly unexpected surprise comes with the sixth track, “Breaking News,” where Winn and Baron introduce a heretofore unheard soulful, funky edge. The song’s tasteful, nuanced synth work, groovy, fervent guitars, and dramatic beat make for an instantly memorable listen, and definitively stand out from the album’s otherwise folk-inflected pop sound.

**Needless to say, there’s lots to love throughout Stop-Motion‘s ten-track run.**

“Picking favorites is almost impossible for me because I am so emotionally attached to each song and the creation of it,” Winn says before settling on not one, not two, but five favorites – and honestly, who can blame her for casting such a wide net?

“‘Pitta Patta’ is one of my favorite songs because it speaks to who I am as a person and what I enjoy doing and what defined me as a child – letting loose in nature, getting mud on my boots (or feet), and just feeling freedom outside away from technology and distraction,” she says.“‘Averna’ is one of my favorites as well because of the way the music meshes with the lyrics to create such a perfect feeling. Also, I’ve always loved it as a demo, and David ended up keeping a lot of what I did and just generally was impressed by it, which was validating and humbling. One of my favorite production highlights is the way David Baron ends this song – it is rising, emotive, and downright triumphant which is just the perfect way to end that song.”

“‘Breaking News’ is another favorite of mine. It just sounds awesome and was so fun to make and perform. We call it our ‘Y2K’ song… We also shot the perfect video for it that I can’t wait to reveal to the world. A personal highlight is my vocal performance on ‘Lightning in a Bottle.’ I remember the morning driving to David’s Sun Mountain Studio which is literally at the top of a mountain in the Catskills, so vividly. I knew the vocals needed to be just as tight and percussive as the production. I felt like I was driving to a boxing match, just had to get myself in the zone and it showed once I got there. On my 10-minute drive to the studio, I listened to Thriller by Michael Jackson because who has a more percussive style of singing than him? I walked out of the booth to a round of applause. It was a magical moment and just the perfect way to end this album.”

“Another highlight is the surprise trumpet performance by Chris Pasin in ‘Super 8.’ We didn’t plan on doing it and Matthew floated the idea because the lyrics reference Louis Armstrong. Everyone else was doubtful (including myself), but David wanted to give it a shot and we’re so glad we did. Chris actually performed with greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Tony Bennett. So he brought that classic jazz sound to this song that just makes it so unique and emotional.”

**Ginger Winn’s debut album is just that – a beginning.**

And what a way to start a conversation! With an album this rich, candid, and colorful in the bag, there’s no telling where she goes from here and what she does next – but rest assured, we’ll be hearing much more from this singer/songwriter in the years to come. Stop-Motion succeeds in its stated goal of making us pause and reexamine our lives; it’s emotionally nuanced and entertaining all at the same time, and a wonderful insight into the perspective of a young artist making her way through a world full of pain and promise, love and loss.

“I was on my own journey and in my own ‘motion,’” Winn reflects. “This sort of crazy story and series of happenstance interactions led me to stop where I was and totally changed the direction of my life and my musical career – something I’ve been working towards my entire life. I never knew how it would happen, and I’m not sure anyone does, but I was ready when the time came and had the fortune of being around great talented people, especially David, who is not only a genius, but also a genuinely good person and consummate mentor at the perfect time.”

“It has been very confirmatory to know that all those years of never giving up were worth it, and I hope that anyone else feeling ready to give up gets inspired by this story to just keep going, keep creating, and just keep swimming.”

Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Ginger Winn’s Stop-Motion with Atwood Magazine as she takes us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her debut album!

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:: stream/purchase STOP-MOTION here ::

:: connect with Ginger Winn here ::

Stream: ‘Stop-Motion’ – Ginger Winn

:: Inside Stop-Motion ::

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Off-Course

The carousel ride begins. Motion is officially stopped. We’re changing direction to explore ourselves and the world around us.

Super 8

This is the song that started it all. It is about yearning to love someone who may never love you back…and one day they do…and when they do it is the best feeling in the world. It is literally magical, like living in heaven on earth. The lyrics use imagery of Tuscany to paint that picture. I think anyone who’s ever been there will agree- that is the place.

Averna

This is about building a life with someone, being creative together, making plans. It is probably the most emotionally evocative song on the album. Except maybe #5 on this list…

Nightmares are Free, but Dreams are Sold

This is the most poetic and contemplative song on the album. There are abstract ideas presented with concrete words. Just me and a guitar, the raw sound and lyrics are inspired by the artist Nick Drake.

8:48

We never know what happens in life or when it will end, yet we often carry on like it never will. This is a song about never getting a chance to say goodbye and the risks of leaving rifts in relationships. This particular story is based on a couple in a fight on the morning of 9/11, but the reality and feeling can be applied to any tragedy.

Breaking News

The Y2K song! Do you know someone who’s problems tend to be bigger than yours, or have had conversations like that with people? They need your ear but you can’t seem to get theirs? This is that song with a loving approach.

Autumn Leaves

This is all about shifting perspectives and has an interpretation of God inspired by The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and quantum physics. We are all interconnected and everything we experience in life is a perspective. Truths are not as certain as we think. This song makes me laugh because it sounds like summer but talks about Autumn Leaves – again challenging perspective.

Coddiwomple

“Coddiwomple” is an Old English word that means traveling with purpose to an unknown destination.That is sort of the story of my life – and all of our lives when we really think about it. Our life is always unfolding and we never truly know where we’re headed. The sound of the song matches the silliness of the word, but mixes in some thought provoking lyrics.

Pitta Patta

Go get some mud on your boots. Get in touch with your inner child. Have fun. Explore!

Lightning in a Bottle

The ride is over and this is where I am at in my career. I caught lightning in a bottle, now it is time to use it, and see where it takes me. The lyrics reference The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho which describes a journey similar to mine and dovetails with Autumn Leaves. My father was a lightning photographer so this song is extra special for me.

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