Review Summary: A delightful and gentle listen
Snowgoose is a folk / soft rock band out of Scotland.’The making of you’ is their second album.
This music sounds like early 70s music, and wouldn’t sound out of place on the oldies station - your Grandpa might comment, ‘I think that’s Joni Mitchell, I don’t remember that song though’
When this record starts, the first thing that you hear is Anna Heard’s vocals - she is immediately a very friendly, warm and sincere presence, with a sweet voice. The lyrics could generally be described as ‘positive introspection’, with a lot of metaphors and imagery. The music and general atmosphere is very ‘low-key’. The production is very organic and simple; there is no studio-glitz, there is no big or slick sound.
The opening ‘Everything’ starts as a brooding folk song, but as it progresses, and you notice the swirling organs in the background, revealing that Snowgoose aren’t afraid of a bit of old-school psychedelia. Then ‘Who will you choose’ is a bit more dreamy, while ‘Hope’ is an effortlessly melodic song with uplifting lyrics ‘It’s only hope / you’ve got to believe and not ask why’ and a gorgeous mix of male and female backing vocals work to very pleasing effect.
The title track feels a bit more ‘Gypsy’ with its (keyboard) accordion/organ and vaguely gothic melody, but ‘Counting Time’ feels like a well executed female folk-pop song, while is sung very well. In the second half of the album they generally aim for a more folk sound. ‘Leonard’ is a more Smokey-flavoured song with some welcome harmonica playing. The highlight of the record is ‘Deserted Forest’ which is a breezy little ditty with imagery like ‘Men flock with axes in hand, trees soaring high telling tales as they crash to the ground... Starlings they burst into flight and in chaos they’re gone’ - so as you see Snowgoose can be quite poetic.
Snowgoose, and the album ‘The making of you’, is generally very good music. Their song craft and melodies are always of a high standard, and in Anna Heard they have a talented singer. There is never a moment listening to this album where there is bad songwriting, amateurish playing or bad, immature lyrics.
There are a few mistakes. The second song ‘Who will you choose’ has a great melody and effortless, almost jazzy, acoustic guitar cadences, but how often do they have to repeat the chorus? Additionally, on a couple of the songs, Heard’s vocals seem to be written at the very bottom of her vocal register, giving the song a ‘dragging’ feeling. There are definitely notes on the title track and, again, ‘Who will you choose’ that are too low for her.
What sometimes limits the band is that Heard is not a ‘dynamic’ vocalist, you can’t imagine she’s going to step things up a gear for a token ‘rock n roll’ song. Maybe there are other styles the band hasn’t explored that might suit her. I know they are really good at folk music but without diversity they can never make a truly ‘classic’ album.
However, this is a very warm, melodious well-written recording, which does away with gimmicks and pretensions that are abundantly available to musicians these days. This album is a band of highly talented musicians relying on their songwriting skills. If you like softer music this is one worth a listen.
