One listen to The Horse, The Rat And The Swan makes itmore than evident that this is a far from ordinary album.There is a ferocious urgency here, a dark energy at play,almost to the point of obsession or mania. This is a workevidently expunged from the band's collective psyche...extracted whole, writhing and coated in a primordial slime.It's the sound of the band desperately capturing their ideasas if they fear they may escape them, as if they fear theywill never have this opportunity to seize and encapsulatethis moment again.
This is a record that expects you to engage, make an effortand stop being a passive recipient. Yes it's a busy world andfinding time to pay attention, unravel, unfold, reveal andcomprehend is difficult for all of us, but not everythingshould be pre-processed and pre-masticated for ourconvenience, should it?
Snowman have travelled some distance since their self-titleddebut album two years back. Along the way there have beensweat stained, sold out gigs, $500 videos, inferences onPitchfork that they are Australia's greatest band, WAMIAwards and kind words but all of this is now flotsam,floating in the wake of The Horse, The Rat And The Swan.
This is a ground zero moment. There is a flow here, a longhidden path to be uncovered, running through the album'sdense, overgrown vegetation.
We Are The Plague sounds like a final message picked upon the scanners of a post-apocalyptic, galactic battleship...Daniel Was A Timebomb careens on a fucked up rockabillyriff that reminds us that this is now an ancient music of adesperate, disenfranchised underclass... A Rebirth andShe Is Turning In To You are exactly what they say,transfigurations, the sound of a band mutating, breakingout of its chrysalis and taking on a new form... The Horse(Parts 1 and 2) is pure ritual; possessed and frenzied,(say hello to Mr Conrad again, deep in the heart of hisdarkness and wondering if the apocalypse is now or laterin the week)... Diamond Wounds sees Snowman finallyemerge, dwarfed by their own imposing (and dare we sayprogressive) sonic architecture, into a cavernous underworldof their own creation.
This is a record that expects you to engage, make an effortand stop being a passive recipient. Yes it's a busy world andfinding time to pay attention, unravel, unfold, reveal andcomprehend is difficult for all of us, but not everythingshould be pre-processed and pre-masticated for ourconvenience, should it?
Snowman have travelled some distance since their self-titleddebut album two years back. Along the way there have beensweat stained, sold out gigs, $500 videos, inferences onPitchfork that they are Australia's greatest band, WAMIAwards and kind words but all of this is now flotsam,floating in the wake of The Horse, The Rat And The Swan.
This is a ground zero moment. There is a flow here, a longhidden path to be uncovered, running through the album'sdense, overgrown vegetation.
We Are The Plague sounds like a final message picked upon the scanners of a post-apocalyptic, galactic battleship...Daniel Was A Timebomb careens on a fucked up rockabillyriff that reminds us that this is now an ancient music of adesperate, disenfranchised underclass... A Rebirth andShe Is Turning In To You are exactly what they say,transfigurations, the sound of a band mutating, breakingout of its chrysalis and taking on a new form... The Horse(Parts 1 and 2) is pure ritual; possessed and frenzied,(say hello to Mr Conrad again, deep in the heart of hisdarkness and wondering if the apocalypse is now or laterin the week)... Diamond Wounds sees Snowman finallyemerge, dwarfed by their own imposing (and dare we sayprogressive) sonic architecture, into a cavernous underworldof their own creation.
2 comments:
I don't think you've ever posted any music on here that I haven't liked. Thanks for all the great suggestions!
seconded. this is a very exciting release, and again out of nowhere for me. thank you much.
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