Snowstorm, self-titled

review by dave heaton

Snowstorm’s self-titled CDR opens, “Susan where did you go? / I’ve been searching in three feet of snow”, and then follows it with about 20 more minutes of searching, either self-directed (soul-searching) or directed towards someone who’s gone. The second song, “Making a Scene”, has some of both, with our singer returning to the neighborhood of someone who’s gone, hoping she’ll see him. Memorably, he considers setting himself on fire. The chorus is his own analysis of his behavior: “There’s a difference between the things you want and you dream / I keep on making a scene.” It’s got a great melody, is a catchy little song.

Home-recorded, it seems, Snowstorm seems personal in every way: a one-man recording with songs that probe deeply, clearly, into human behavior, relationships, what makes us tick. It does so with great melodies and a pleasing (to those with a taste for it) lo-fi sound of warm acoustic guitars, vocals, and occasional keyboards. Its sort of incisive emotional pop music is reminiscent of some ‘90s faves – Lou Barlow in ballad mode or, often, Bob Mould’s solo acoustic work (“Palm Reader” seems especially Mould-ish), but with its own personal stamp.

These are sad-sack songs – heartbroken, sometimes bitter – but as you listen you’ll pick up on his sense of humor, wit and own style of to-the-point songs, pulling no punches. They’re observational, but also telling stories that pretty much any human being should be able to relate to. There’s a lot of self-criticism and confusion throughout, on songs like “You’re Already Broken”, possibly my favorite. But the way Snowstorm approach that material is consistently clever. Final lyric on the CD: “my sentence structure sucks / but death don’t really care about that.”

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