Resplendent cyclical percussive passages woven exquisitely into a tapestry of aural beauty
9/10
Sometimes the simplest of ideas are, by far, the best and the most rewarding. Snow Palms are a duo that swear by this very concept and, in Intervals, have crafted one of this year's most cherishable albums.
Taking glockenspiels, xylophones, mallets and bells as a base layer and by adding minimal electronica, pianos, textures and strings Snow Palms, who are comprised of composer David Sheppard and arranger Chris Leary, have given birth to the type of music that could soundtrack snowfall, children's fables, Hebridean sunsets and time-lapse film-making, without resorting to cheesiness or cliche. Instrumental throughout, Intervals might not be the most rock and roll album to cross my path this year, but it is the most beautiful.
And that's the same sort of beauty found on the sweetest symmetrical works by Steve Reich, Philip Glass (remember his Uakti project?), Mike Oldfield (Incantations), Stuart McCallum, Wim Mertens, Dead Can Dance, Stephan Micus, Durutti Column and, minus the vocals, Dutch Uncles - I kid you not. From the dark resonating strings on Atoll, past the stark, sombre yet rhythmic tones of Delta Switching, up to the majestic almost classical Motion Capture, the whole collection is pleasingly bewitching, despite lacking in huge arrangements or an obvious highlight.
There is something icily Nordic about Premonition, while Light Museum sounds for all the world like a Vini Reilly exercise, minus the trademark gymnastic guitar motifs. In fact, the entire album sounds like lots of other artists yet still utterly unique. While some of the music might be better suited to a David Attenborough documentary about the polar ice-cap, there's no denying that after 30 minutes of Snow Palms' beguiling cinematic whimsy, you're already dreaming of other-worldly landscapes and a better place. And isn't that what music is supposed to do when it's this good?
9/10
Taking glockenspiels, xylophones, mallets and bells as a base layer and by adding minimal electronica, pianos, textures and strings Snow Palms, who are comprised of composer David Sheppard and arranger Chris Leary, have given birth to the type of music that could soundtrack snowfall, children's fables, Hebridean sunsets and time-lapse film-making, without resorting to cheesiness or cliche. Instrumental throughout, Intervals might not be the most rock and roll album to cross my path this year, but it is the most beautiful.
And that's the same sort of beauty found on the sweetest symmetrical works by Steve Reich, Philip Glass (remember his Uakti project?), Mike Oldfield (Incantations), Stuart McCallum, Wim Mertens, Dead Can Dance, Stephan Micus, Durutti Column and, minus the vocals, Dutch Uncles - I kid you not. From the dark resonating strings on Atoll, past the stark, sombre yet rhythmic tones of Delta Switching, up to the majestic almost classical Motion Capture, the whole collection is pleasingly bewitching, despite lacking in huge arrangements or an obvious highlight.
There is something icily Nordic about Premonition, while Light Museum sounds for all the world like a Vini Reilly exercise, minus the trademark gymnastic guitar motifs. In fact, the entire album sounds like lots of other artists yet still utterly unique. While some of the music might be better suited to a David Attenborough documentary about the polar ice-cap, there's no denying that after 30 minutes of Snow Palms' beguiling cinematic whimsy, you're already dreaming of other-worldly landscapes and a better place. And isn't that what music is supposed to do when it's this good?