Review Summary: On their new record, Snowing adamantly refuse to tame their songcraft, creating a sprawling, personalized record.
To all those who found Snowing's debut EP
Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit to be messy and aimless, it's important to note from the get go that these detractors have not been stripped of in order to create a more cohesive full-length; rather every quirk of their previous work has been amplified on
I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted. The guitars are more reminiscent of their work in Street Smart Cyclist, going off on a miniature tangents within songs, creating a lively backdrop. Vocalist John Galm explores the similar child-like heartbreak that was present on their demo, this time with a roaring, inebriated passion that lets loose all over the record. Even the song titles have become increasingly more inside-joke related. For those looking for structure and coherence in their debut full-length, Snowing have put out the opposite of such linear hopes;
I Could Do Whatever I Wanted is a sprawling record, filled with an abundance of Kinsella jamming and sporadic, smile-inducing gems.
An immediate aspect of the record is that it's blatantly personal, a musical equivalent to spilling one's guts out while intoxicated. John Galm's lyrics often find him conflicted with identity and self-awareness, from the first song off the record singing "Now let me contradict the last few things I wrote, like, 'I'm not morbid, I'm just forgetful' because I'm morbid; the dam is f
ucking breaking". If
Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit had Galm first touching on such subjects with some degree of musical subtlety, Galm lets loose of any pretense and tackles his regrets with a drunken bitterness. There's a particular emphasis on the blending of nonchalant tales of drinking with more personal conflicts explored, which can be seen as a contributing factor to the abrupt, angsty confessions. The honesty is as present in the music, the guitarists embracing no limits to any particular sound or any coherency as far as approach. The structure of the album is akin much to the spontaneity and unpredictable structure as Cap'n Jazz's compilation
Analphabetapolothology and other Emo anthologies. While this trait may bewilder and often lead to listeners getting lost mid-play, it enhances the decidedly human qualities that give so much charm to Snowing's music.
While their debut full length does signify a change in approach for the band, Snowing are still the same band to fans and haters alike. In fact, the elongated nature of the album may be a turnoff to fans of their previous release.
Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit had five distinct songs that worked in their own right and had a flow, while
ICDWIWIIW has eleven separate tracks that often awkwardly operate when listened to in an album format. However this aspect is countered by an increased passion on the band's part, an honesty with the listener that magnifies Galm's vulnerable personality. The instrumentation is diversified, with more traditional angular riffs on tracks such as "It's Just A Party", while tracks like "Damp Feathers" have the guitarists building around the vocals, creating an atmosphere pertinent to the building of the song. While the record gets fairly homogenous, thorough listens will have the listener coming across particular gems such as the confessional, anthemic "So I Shotgunned A Beer and Went Back To Bed"("You swore that you would live your life without regret. Well what do you wait for?"), as well as the celebratory, jangly closer "I Could Be Better Forever". In the end,
I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted is for the listener to objectify, whether it be a personal statement or just a collection of twinkly Emo jams. Whatever it is, Snowing knows what they're doing.
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