...The Evolution of Wintersleep

I have known Wintersleep for some years now and I have seen them perform a number of times but that does not seem to stop my opinion on them from continuously changing. Seeing them this past weekend I realized I have done a complete 180 on my thoughts on them (and maybe this is to be expected from a constantly evolving band).
I really enjoyed Welcome to the Night Sky, their last album, but still felt that I missed the old Murphy-driven (lead singer) songs of old. I wanted more of 'Orca' and 'Avalanche', the highlights from there early albums. With there show this past weekend, I confirmed a few thoughts from the last time I saw them. One thing that has struck me interesting, is that Paul Murphy's voice just doesnt sound as good as it used to. Im not sure if it is him just trying to find new places in old songs but sometimes he pushes it to far and with the augmentation of his voice comes a cringe from me. The other thing which is clearly apparent is the success of the instrumental parts to there live sets. It is evident that this band has too many amazing musicians to not focus on making their sound more instrumental and experimental, and maybe as a fan of the band it is my duty to encourage this. How could you not love a 7 minute drum solo from Loel which comes with every edition of 'Nerves Normal' (see below). So although I usually want the stripped back version of "things" from bands, I love the sound which comes with forays into the instrumental, seen with below video.
This conundrum is solved with something that I usually see as a negative in the music world. Side projects are so-oft not my favorite but I am beginning to see the light with some of them. For instance, Paul Murphy the lead singer of Wintersleep has just released a side-project called Postdata. In addition, the rest of the band (Mike, Loel, Jon), have long played with a band called Contrived. These projects allow Murphy to pursue his song-writing talents (Postdata) while allowing the rest of the band more experimentation with sound (Contrived). Although, Im not completely sold on either side-project, I get there necessity.
The evolution of Wintersleep and its side-projects leave me intrigued to hear there latest work, set to be released in May, called New Inheritors (you can find a live version of a new song on my Youtube channel found here).