Atlas Sound

"Winter Vacation" is a song about a trip that my family took to Savannah [Geo.] the week I met Lockett. The day I met Lockett I saw him in a busport, and he looked so lonely. I was like, who is this lonely boy? I was attracted to him, but not in some kind of like, just physical way. I was attracted to his melancholy, his sitting alone, staring at the ground. Like: What was the kid thinking? I immediately fell in love right then at first sight. I remember driving to Savannah with my family, my parents arguing the entire way, because my parents fought all the time before they divorced. I had a real kind of intense upbringing with my family. And we didn't have any money, we were very like lower-class, and there was just a lot of tension. There was alcoholism and stuff. It was a time in my life where there was a lot of pain and suffering that a lot of people go through-- I don't feel alone or pity myself. But I just remember sitting in the backseat in heaven, feeling like I was on ecstasy, listening to headphones. I believe I was listening to The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, "Back Side of the Moon". My parents are fighting in the front seat and we arrive at the beach, in Savannah, and it's the dead of winter. And just, the beach is just the most desolate place, and I remember it was raining. A lot of the lyrics are like, "I saw the rain crash into the windshield." It's just the details. And the details somehow were infected with that new love I had and seemed blown out of their normal kind of tame or subtle context. Everything seemed like an explosion. It all seemed new, it all seemed real bright, and I was so excited. I was so excited. Lockett had just given me his phone number for the very first time. And I was driving with all these expectations of, like, "I want to make this boy my friend. I want to possibly make this boy my boyfriend." I was in love for the first time in my life, ever, and it made this desolate beach scene seem so... cozy, you know? It was just a warmth coming from within for me. -Bradford Cox