Indie Music Album Reviews

Mark Winters - Boundary Layer (Radio Remix)

7/27/2023

Mark Winters

Boundary Layer
(Radio Remix)

By Dino DiMuro

Mark Winters is a Texas-based singer/songwriter who’s just released a new single titled “Boundary Layer (Radio Remix).” With a degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Winters is a bonafide Rocket Scientist and says his math and science backgrounds guide his musical explorations. He likes his songs to “take complex things such as emotions and express them in a way that's easy to understand.”

Winters calls his genre “rock with a positive vibe” and says his biggest influences are John Mayer, Tom Petty and Jason Mraz. His musical roots encompass rock, blues rock and pop. He says his music starts from “a place of poetry and creative inspiration” to which he applies his rocket scientist brain to find structures “that help me explore that initial burst of inspiration and feeling.”

Winters’ debut album Slipstream was released in 2019 to great reviews, placement on hundreds of playlists and over a million streams worldwide. This was followed by the Boundary Layer album, which features the original version of the title track. The newest version of “Boundary Layer” is called the “radio remix” and I’ll be checking out both of them.

To start with the original “Boundary Layer,” it kicks right in with a bright, guitar-centric sound that reminds me of the British Invasion bands. This shouldn’t be surprising as Winters owes a debt to Tom Petty who was certainly well versed in that sound! Vocally Winters has an effervescent, almost giddy delivery. It’s not a pop star voice, but it’s got tons of personality and even a touch of nerdy-ness that you might expect from a scientist. Lyrically there’s references to science-type stuff (“Pushing at the supersonic speed…”) but the song is clearly an ode to the long road one takes to finding one’s true self. There’s some really nice harmonies at the end.

For the new version, Winters immediately pushes the chiming electric guitars further back in the mix (with a dollop of reverb) and brings new acoustic guitar and piano tracks upfront. I may be crazy but it feels to me like the vocals are a new performance where Winters has toned down the giddy quality for a more measured, radio-friendly sound (if it’s actually the same vocal track, never mind!). There seems to be more melody to his voice and less playacting. For the chorus Winters introduces a “Hey! Ho!” chant right out of The Lumineers. There’s more variety to his electric guitar grace notes with cool coil-reverb sounds, like dreamy shimmers. There’s a nice, short Fender-sounding guitar solo, too. The dramatic build toward the end is even more dramatic, with a neat moment where all but the vocals drop out (it’s an old trick but it works!).

There’s qualities in both versions of this song that I like, but this new Radio Remix will certainly catch your ear and it does the original song proud. Be sure to check out more of the Winters catalogue as he’s the real deal and worth watching!