SNOWW Wwhite - or Snowwy to her friends - first introduced me to her music a few months ago and since then I’ve been following her steady progress on MySpace. But this new demo is an attempt to bring her unusual array of military ditties to a wider audience, as well as to secure a proper record deal and win the serious attention that her work deserves. Residing in the north-west of England, Snowwy is originally from Germany and is not afraid to show it. The fourteen tunes on this professionally-mastered issue stake her claim as the first lady of neoclassical, a scene almost wholly devoid of female involvement. Even more so in terms of being able to compose and mix her own songs in what, up to now, has always been a very male-dominated environment. If you’re expecting a talentless bimbo playing around with a drumstick, forget it, ‘Wonderland’ is a radical departure from the plodding repetition of many acts in this field and this release may surprise you. ‘No Looking Back in Anger’, an apparent wordplay on the 1958 film starring Richard Burton and Clare Bloom, begins life as a distorted wailing intro before setting off on a complex journey of busy drumwork and constant background ambience. An occasional tinkering of bells gives the track a slightly different feel to most of the military-industrial sampling that we are used to. Conjuring up images of wartime innocence and baton-twirling majorettes, the music – described by Snowwy herself as ‘playful’ – is a fairly jolly affair with none of the usual gloom and doom. ‘Heimat (Black Forest Version)’ was obviously composed during a bout of homesickness and nostalgia, the rat-a-tat snares and interjecting timpani accompanied by stirring orchestral sounds and great piano. A foot-tapping extravaganza, for sure. ‘Lullaby’ starts off with the “Aim! Fire!” sounds of the Prussian parade ground, whilst the characteristic drums that function as a perpetual hallmark of continuity on this demo soon carry you along through the battlefield amid a stuttering machine-gun that is itself eventually morphed into a form of rolling percussion. The title of ‘Sin’s Rune’ is rather curious, but there are no clues regarding the nature of the rune in question. Perhaps, being German, Swowwy is hinting at the mixture of two particular runes that, once combined, usually find themselves Verboten? One can only speculate, but this track reminds me of a film soundtrack. Again, this is a gentle march, the click of wood upon wood, fluttering piano and twice-struck timpani helping to keep time with a tune that wouldn’t be out of place in the Wild West. ‘Springtime’, on the other hand, employs a more modern and upbeat drum sound, but follows on smoothly by retaining the minimalist clicking. The synth-free gaps enhance the drumming, too, creating a good intermediate effect that is also very tribal. ‘March Into Wonderland’ is just that. This is one of the first tracks I ever heard by Snowwy and therefore a useful guide for me to gauge just how much she has progressed over the last couple of months. There is a much richer flavour to this tune now, and even the timing and synchronicity seems to have improved. This is one of the tracks which I consider to possess a slightly soft and feminine touch, not that any of the tracks on this demo are particularly harsh in the slightest. It’s gentle and lilting, perhaps even mellow, arriving at a sudden stop and then moving aside for ‘Dance’. I think it’s more of a march than a dance, but then Snowwy once told me that she can even dance to Rasthof Dachau, so you never can tell. Come to think of it, perhaps a demonstration would be in order? I like the sense of rising trepidation conveyed by ‘The New Dawn’. The unremitting drums never allow you to rest for a single moment, although they do provide a rhythmic focus for the orchestral background. ‘The Last Surviving Rose’ has a more electronic sound and is like a minimalist Kraftwerk or Depeche Mode getting lost on the way to the Cenotaph. Another drum-change later and we’re in the midst of a ‘Stormy Night’. This is a little more experimental than its predecessors, the diminishing echoes bouncing off into the distance like metallic tennis balls. This, for me, is possibly the best track on the whole album and I could imagine this one sitting nicely on a Steinklang compilation. ‘Faraway and Long Ago’ is another extremely good tune. Like several other people, I detect a slight Chinese influence here, although I’m sure it’s unplanned and purely coincidental. But nevertheless, picture a line of tanks rumbling through Tiananmen Square and you’re not far off. ‘Advance’ is another dose of electronica, its measured ringing and controlled psychedelic swirls oozing with charm. Doused with a hypnotic timelessness and laced with crashing cymbals, ‘Late October’ is a return to standard neoclassical fare. The final offering, ‘In the Snow’, is a melodious plinking that is reminiscent of peeling church bells and serene Yuletide evenings beside the hearth. A fitting end to a great debut. For more information, please visit: http://www.myspace.com/snowwwwhite
