# Winter Pageant

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***Winter Pageant*** is an album by the American [indie rock](/source/Indie_rock) musical duo [the Softies](/source/The_Softies), released in 1997.[2][3] The sound was occasionally dismissed as "crush-core".[4] The duo supported the album with a North American tour.[5]

## Production

The album was recorded without a rhythm section, with one or two guitars as accompaniment.[6][7] The majority of the songs deal with troubled relationships and broken friendships.[8]

## Critical reception

*[Entertainment Weekly](/source/Entertainment_Weekly)* wrote that "Jen Sbragia and Rose Melberg ... strum and twang guitars while delicately harmonizing, their lovely vocals masking bitter lyrics about broken relationships."[9] *[CMJ New Music Monthly](/source/CMJ_New_Music_Monthly)* thought that Melberg and Sbragia's voices "are complementary, but there's a cool space between them: a graceful austerity that creates some of the record's most sublime moments."[10] *[The Oregonian](/source/The_Oregonian)* decided that "the Softies are saved from being mired between the twin evils of cutesy candy-coating and abject despair by a queer note of hope found in even their saddest stories."[11]

*[Spin](/source/Spin_(magazine))* called the album "music for indoor introverts—solitary souls who still write letters."[6] *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)* opined that it "combines '50s lounge music melodies with the '60s pop-rock harmonies of Softie Rose Melberg's previous band, the ebullient Tiger Trap."[12] The *[Lincoln Journal Star](/source/Lincoln_Journal_Star)* deemed *Winter Pageant* "deeply honest confessions of lost love, broken promises and lives adrift, set in quiet songs that are near lullabies, but have a lasting power."[13]

[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic) wrote that "despite the melancholy tone, there is something hopeful in the Softies' resignation, a faith in perfect moments that is as strong as the knowledge of love's frailty."[14]

## Personnel

- [Rose Melberg](/source/Rose_Melberg)
- Jen Sbragia

## References

1. Baumgarten, Mark (July 10, 2012). [*Love Rock Revolution: K Records and the Rise of Independent Music*](https://books.google.com/books?id=gC5PBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT232). Sasquatch Books.

1. ["Softies Biography"](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/softies-mn0000504693/biography). *AllMusic*

1. Bresnark, Robin (Jan 25, 1997). "Winter Pageant". *Melody Maker*. Vol. 74, no. 4. p. 40.

1. Lewis, Scott D. (29 Jan 1997). "The Softies Winter Pageant". *The Rocket*. p. 20.

1. Daley, David (20 Mar 1997). "Winter Pageant The Softies". *Hartford Courant*. p. 4.

1. Huston, Johnny (Mar 1997). "Spins". *Spin*. Vol. 12, no. 12. pp. 102, 104.

1. Linn, Allison (17 Jan 1997). "The Softies". *The Olympian*. p. 4.

1. Imamura, Kevin (20 Mar 1997). "The Softies Winter Pageant". *LA Weekly*. p. 51.

1. ["Winter Pageant"](https://ew.com/article/1997/02/07/winter-pageant/). *Entertainment Weekly*

1. Clayton, Liz (Apr 1997). "Reviews". *CMJ New Music Monthly*. No. 44. p. 42.

1. Foyston, John (February 28, 1997). "Simple Songs of Love and Loss". *The Oregonian*. p. 40.

1. Jenkins, Mark (19 Mar 1997). "The Softies". *The Washington Post*. p. D7.

1. Wolgamott, L. Kent (9 Mar 1997). "The Grammys are over, now it's critics' turn". *Lincoln Journal Star*. p. 10.

1. ["Winter Pageant"](https://www.allmusic.com/album/winter-pageant-mw0000095040). *[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)*

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