So the next one up is from a band formed by, or at least including, one of the people here with the longest usernames, but I'll just call her Steph. Yeah, it's WWWP, and this is what she does when she's not being fabulous on the forum.
Snake Walk --- Snake Walk --- 2014 (Bandcamp release)
Okay. I really, really like what I'm hearing as “Bed and breakfast” opens the album. Lovely piano and guitar which for some reason reminds me of Judie Tzuke (!) then the vocals come in and I'm thinking Deacon Blue, Prefab Sprout, Ivyrise. It's not Steph singing (unless she has a really male voice!)
--- no, it's a guy called Lukas, though Steph tells me that they don't have a frontperson as such; they usually try to be as democratic as they can with the band, but it just happens that this album has more of himself to the fore. I can see why: his voice is clear and quite rich, with a real element of kind of fun and perhaps self-effacement to a degree in it. Friendly, is how I would describe it. The music, too, is very upbeat and cheerful, with some really nice basslines from our lady and some fine drumming, though I'm told no human could make those beats, and it's an electronic drum machine they use. There's a female backing vocal there, and I guess that's our own lovely WWWP again, and it really adds something to the song, especially when she harmonises with Lukas on the slower, almost dreamy chorus. Lovely. Great little keyboard run there, very bouncy, followed by some staccato piano or maybe organ. Thoughtfully, Snake Walk have provided some lyrics, so let's use them huh?
I particularly like the lines
”But there was no romance;/ I was just a dirty kid with his hand/Down the wrong lady’s pants”. I also like the way it goes in the fourth minute, into a mostly instrumental jam but with a chanted chorus going on too. Although the song is I guess a bit melancholy and reflective, perhaps regretful at least lyrically, it sounds like the band are having a real good time and it's like a tale of teenage love? There'll be lots of other times. Maybe I got that wrong but hey, what do I, as I so often ask, know? Inspired chorus too:
”At the bed and breakfast/ It’s cold in the fireplace/ Stone through stained-glass/ And ghosts in the pillowcases.” We return then to the melody of the opening part, almost lounge music, very restful and the part that reminded me of Judie. The bass and soft percussion really help carry this, with the piano lording it over them all with its quiet understated but in-command melody.
Oh, those harmonies! That is just perfect. I hope this isn't the best track on this album because I really like this. Oh hell, that end is just perfection! The next track is shorter, much --- that ran for seven minutes, but not long enough as far as I'm concerned --- and with chiming clock sounds a la “Time” we're into “Cheap cream”, which this time reminds me of Waits at his most minimal. Great percussion and a low-key vocal. No other instrumentation that I can hear. Oh come on! Stop! Is that a banjo/mandolin opening “Rain gallery”? WWWP plays the guitar here and it certainly shows; a real standout performance. Can this get any better, really? Sort of muted drumming then a tinkly piano comes in with a sweet, sweet melody and then another superb vocal harmony like the best of Neil Young. Slow, folky sort of beat, which shows yet another side of Snake Walk, who are certainly here taking me for some ride! I can hear a sort of acoustic Waterboys here too. Organ now coming in, adding another layer to the sound, and it really fleshes it out, but does not destroy the ambience Snake Walk have carefully and lovingly built up here.
Another lovely slow dreamy beat on “Toffee apples”, with the third member of the band, Jaycob, taking the mike and really reminding me of Ricky Ross now (Deacon Blue's one, not the rapper) and a beautiful guitar line with handclap drums --- which I usually don't like --- perfectly complementing it, a tinkly piano keeping a soft melody underpinning the song. I'm in Bread territory now, listening to the dulcet tones of David Gates. This could be a seventies song, would fit perfectly in, and yet does not sound out of place here in the twenty-first century. Some spoken bits are not even off-putting, as they often are; just seem to work really well. Interesting lyric, even if I have no idea what it means:
”I see a coiled-up cobra disguised as a rope/ Clean under the dust with green eyes to the scope/ Set out to sunder us, hunters encroach / Suppose the snake's blunderbuss exploded our hopes /Would I lie dead, doubtful I'll pull it, or cope; / Rise, head full of you and mouth full of bullets?” Um. Yeah.
The vocal becomes almost a slow rap, and yet --- and this is important, when you know me as you guys do --- I still love it. Ah, darn! We're on the last track, but at least “For Lulu, a shiv to the gut” is the longest track on the album, seven and a half minutes. Great guitar opening, which again those wonderful vocal harmonies, that tinkly piano (which I'm thinking may be a xylophone or a glockenspiel) with another kind of slow rap in the vocal. Lukas's diction is impressive; you never miss a word, and yet he doesn't sound stilted, as some who sing that way can do. I notice now that there seems to be a serial killer coming into the lyric ---
”He’s the kind of killer who prepares a home cooked meal/ So he doesn’t have to hide the knives” --- but I think I'm correct in saying that this song is about a writer and they're just singing about her characters? It's got a little more uptempo, a little more intense as the vocalist talks about Lulu with what sounds like rising disdain. Beautiful keyboard/piano/xylo/ whatever solo.
I also like that they use other languages here, German and French anyway. The guitar chops up the melody as it gets a little harder, vocal harmonies now coming in to join the singer before he takes the song again on his own. You know, as the lyric develops I could be wrong: this could be about a real killer, who is targeting Lulu? I guess I'll find out when Steph responds to this. Well either way it don't matter because this is once again a winner. Five stars, guys. Five bright, shining stars.
TRACKLISTING
1. Bed and breakfast
2. Fresh cream
3. Rain gallery
4. Fresh toffee apples
5. For Lulu, a shiv in the gut
That was definitely the most I have enjoyed a five-track EP in a long time. Truth be told, and for some unknown reason, I had not expected to like this music. I do. Man I do. This is great stuff, and I look forward to more from Snake Walk. Thanks for giving me the chance to review your stuff guys, and I hope I managed to do it justice, though I'm sure I didn't.
Mind you, you can always check it out yourself at their Bandcamp page here
https://snakewalk.bandcamp.com/album/snake-walk-demo
Note: In case anyone thinks I'm just kissing ass here, and that everyone will get a glowing review no matter if their music sucks, can I remind you who you're talking about? While I will not go out of my way to be nasty or dismissive of anyone's music --- I know they're like your babies --- I will say if I don't like it, it doesn't do anything for me or it's not my scene. You can, for instance, probably expect Frownland's music to get a less than positive grilling, and that's not because I don't like his music (or what I've heard of it to date) but because it just is not in my wheelhouse. Even so, I will always try to find something positive to say about everyone, because I know making music is one of the hardest things anyone can do, and talent and creativity deserves to be recognised.
But one thing you will always get from me here is honesty. We may not end up friends afterwards (
) but I won't bulls
hit anyone. If I like it, I will say so, if I don't I will not shirk from pointing that out. Luckily though, so far everyone has impressed me. Long may it continue!