Upon reflecting on a traumatic event that occurred at seven years old and translating it into an indie pop tune with hard-hitting lines, Windser—a project of the indie-pop singer/songwriter Jordan Topf—released their first single, “Abandon,” off their self-titled debut album coming out May 16.
“When I was seven years old, my father abandoned me in a hotel room in Costa Rica,” Windser shares in a video posted to his Instagram, talking about the story behind “Abandon” on the set of his music video. “He ran off on the back of a motorcycle with a woman he had just met and left me in the hotel room for twenty-four hours.”
Although Windser was able to dig up these suppressed feelings derived from this childhood event and share them with the world, that hadn’t always been the case. In another Instagram post, he explains how it wasn’t until a few years ago that he was able to open up about this story during a therapy session and take it to the studio “completely raw and his heart opened wide” to create a song that encapsulates it all.
This deeply personal and well-written song took shape in an indie pop song similar to the style of bands such as flipturn and Father John Misty, with unpredictable lyric delivery and dream pop-inspired instruments such as an electric guitar and a carrying bass. Windser’s artistic choice to release this single as the first off his debut album is a statement in itself; he’s making it clear that instead of choosing to run away from vulnerability, he is prepared to face it head on.
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