Winter, the indie pop project of songwriter Ryan Hemsworth, has released "hollow (mixtape version)," a playful inversion of Pavement's canonical "Summer Babe (Winter Version)." The track finds Winter—who typically explores summer aesthetics and sun-drenched production—pivoting toward wintertime themes on this alternate iteration.
The mixtape version suggests an intentional move toward rawer, less polished production values. Rather than the crystalline synth work and glossy arrangements that define Winter's core sound, this iteration strips things back. The decision echoes a broader indie tradition of releasing alternate versions that expose the skeleton of a song, letting listeners hear compositional choices unadorned by studio sheen.
Hemsworth's project has built a devoted following in recent years through careful cultivation of mood and atmosphere. His work sits at the intersection of bedroom pop sensibility and electronic production craft. By titling this release as a mixtape version, Winter signals both accessibility and informality. Mixtapes carry cultural weight in indie circles as artifacts of curation, personality, and intimacy. They suggest something made for friends rather than commercial consumption.
The Pavement reference operates on multiple levels. Pavement's "Summer Babe" exists as one of 1990s indie rock's defining songs, and the winter version variant has become almost as canonical as the original. Winter's inversion flips that logic. If Pavement could recontextualize summer through a winter lens, Winter can do the same in reverse, collapsing seasons into emotional states rather than calendars.
This release arrives as indie pop continues fragmenting into countless microgenres and production styles. Artists increasingly treat alternate versions and remixes as essential parts of their output rather than bonus material. "Hollow (mixtape version)" positions Winter within that conversation, suggesting the artist values process visibility and multiple entry points for listeners approaching the work.