This British trio’s fourth album is a collection of twelve songs, all with one word titles, built around the mysteries of ancient folklore and the uncertainties of contemporary society. It was written in Wiltshire UK, Gothenburg, Sweden, and County Donegal, Ireland between 2019 and 2022.
Vocalist Hannah Cartwright and fellow founder member Ross Tones composed songs inspired by Tones’ home in Weardale.). “The concept of The Fell as a living thing was there from the beginning” Tones says, while Cartwright speaks of the desire to bring together human, floral, faunal and mythological elements.
The musical process merges aspects of hauntological folk and hypnagogic pop into tunes which evoke hidden landscapes and secret histories. A prime example comes in Buried, where a skewed folk arrangement with dulcimer and bodhrán drum is the basis for a song described as ”a threnody to all the stories and lives lost to the landscape.”
The album opens with Given , an ominous one minute drone that leads into Hearths where a backing of funereal beats and chiming trip-hop creates an eerie atmosphere.
A more luminous mood prevails in Filaments and Hawthorn while both states of mind are evident in Avine. In the latter, a morose cello intro suggests enclosure yet swells into something more expansive. The cheeriest piece on the album is Prophecies, a song about the seasonal gatherings that bring communities together through music, dance and celebration.
Darker shadows are never entirely absent, however. In Curse, fuzzy drones, disconcerting strings and synths loom menacingly behind multi-layered vocals that warn “This way madness lies”. For Magpie , a ghostly retelling of a nursery rhyme focuses on the threat from this bird of ill omen: “Seven is for a secret never to be heard.”
|
In Home, fierce strings and frantic percussion create dervish rhythms for a song that centres on the human destruction of natural habitats. The song also has parallels with the betrayals that continue to dominate the post-Brexit political climate in the UK. Such themes of displacement and departure are also central to Vixen.
For the closing song - Taken - a beautifully looping piano refrain provides a perfect setting for lyrics that mourn the loss of faith in society: “Where was the trust you promised us?”
All three members of Snow Ghosts are involved in other musical projects but they clearly have a strong bond and by skilfully blending acoustic and electronic instruments they have forged a set of tunes that stray into experimental territories while maintaining the familiarity of older pathways.
Snow Ghosts’ website
|
