Seen one way, Snowbird’s debut album moon is the return to music for Simon Raymonde, former Cocteau Twins member and founder/head of the Bella Union label, not far now from its 20th anniversary. Raymonde’s last full work was his Blame Someone Else record back in 1997, a pleasant if not deathless effort featuring his own soft, sighed singing. But given his participation not only with the Cocteaus for most of their existence but also This Mortal Coil, it wouldn’t’ve been surprising if he had something more to offer down the road.
Yet Stephanie Dosen, Raymonde’s project partner and the sole vocalist throughout, is the real key to moon’s gentle appeal. With the kind of quietly active resume that reaches back across 20 years and a slew of guest performances and solo releases both, the Wisconsin native ends up being the general focus throughout moon, with Raymonde contributing piano parts that form the overall basis of the songs. There are some further guest appearances to note: Radiohead freaks doubtless are already tracking the presence of Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway; Midlake, who Dosen has recorded with, and Lanterns on the Lake members also take a bow. Yet it’s pretty much the Dosen and Raymonde Show in terms of the overall feeling.
There is definitely an echo of Raymonde’s concluding days with the Cocteaus, for all the time that has passed since—it’s far too much to call moon an actual extension of that act’s lovely final bow Milk & Kisses, but there’s a clear sense of lush gentility at work, with rock arrangements that aim at understatement and mood. Dosen’s singing on first blush extends the connection; anyone who ever loved Elizabeth Fraser’s ear for layered sweetness in those last years of the band, overdubbed into gentle cascades, won’t be surprised at all by the opening “I Heard the Owl Call My Name”, much less by a fair amount of what follows.
That said the music on that track has a sturdy chug that’s more psych rock mystery than anything else, and it’s the first sign that Snowbird is its own combination of talents, something that’s in a particular vein but not a direct cloning. For a start, Dosen herself never sings cryptic or apparently glossolalic lyrics; if her singing softly blends into the arrangements at points, it’s still always understandable enough. If anything, as the album progresses Dosen’s vocal approach, more calmly serene than suddenly melancholy or sharp, suggests another performer entirely, the redoubtable Linda Perhacs. The breathtaking blend of high harmonies that sets the tone from the start of her Parallelograms album with “Chimacum Rain” gets an echo at many points throughout moon, while other musical touches like the hint of slide guitar on “Charming Birds from Trees” further expands the range of moon beyond immediate goth or shoegaze associations.
Beyond that there’s also a definite nature and nighttime theme at work given all the song titles and overall sequencing, something which also carries a bit of a Perhacs feeling if not that kind of rural or upcountry atmosphere. “Where Foxes Hide”, “Come to the Woods”, “Bears on My Trail”, “We Carry White Mice”—all sketch out a clear bucolic feeling, if not an always peaceful one, with the album concluding on a song called “Heart of the Woods” that seems to pretty well wrap everything up.
There are twists that elevate songs to new places, sometimes through the simplest of approaches. When “All Wishes Are Ghosts” shifts to a strong, almost UK-glam-ballad, Dosen sings “Just stay here, my darlin'” in a soft repeat, with the song fading into a blend of keyboards and strings—it’s a great coda that lifts up the whole song. But the most surprising moment may well be the last, with “Heart of the Woods” going almost completely against the mood of the album with crisp opening beats setting the initial mood. It's mixed with an understated brass part that could be something from Lambchop or Calexico, and ends moon with something just a little different.
It should be noted that there’s a further companion disc to the album, luna, where all 11 tracks are remixed by RxGibbs, in some cases to even more striking effect (“Porcelain” on the album is enjoyable, another predominantly piano-led piece that ebbs and flows; after the rework, it’s a spooked out slow dubgaze blend that calls to mind an act like A.R. Kane, but with Dosen and Raymonde’s contributions still key). But moon is plenty fine in its own right, and if this heralds a return to further music from Raymonde as well as getting Dosen a little more attention than previously, then nothing wrong with that in the slightest.
