Winston Surfshirt

Australian funk/hip-hop group Winston Surfshirt are unabashed in their freeform style of self-expression. Originally a solo project of singer/producer/MC Winston Surfshirt, the Sydney-based act expanded to become a six-piece musical collective in the mid-2010s. The crew released its debut album, Sponge Cake, in 2017, a showcase for the band’s loose and individualised approach to various genres, with songs like “Be About You” revealing electro-soul influences. In 2019, Winston Surfshirt dropped their follow-up album, Apple Crumble, which swirled various styles into one, as evidenced by the jazzy R&B of the amorous “Need You”. The cohort would go on to release Cover Your Mouth (Live From Lockdown) in 2021, a collection of pandemic-inspired songs, including the uptempo “You Give Me Something” and the alluring “Fastlove”, which interpolated the 1982 Patrice Rushen single “Forget Me Nots”. In stable and unpredictable times alike, the group keep the groove.