Posted on July 30, 2009 - by Marilyn Roxie

Artist Feature: Natural Snow Buildings

Have you ever heard music that effected you spiritually? I’m not necessarily referring to music that is made with religious intent, but music that seems to register on a profounder level than more commonplace listening material. This is how I feel about Natural Snow Buildings.

The drone motif in much of their work, that is, a prolonged note or repeated pattern of notes for extended periods of time, often has an entrancing quality; other examples of drones in music include Indian classical music (the tambura and the sitar) and, in a more contemporary sense, shoegaze and ‘space-rock’ (Spacemen 3 and Loop, for example). Another component that adds to the Natural Snow Buildings mystique is their unusual layering techniques, as you can see in this 3VOOR12 performance video, from the Dwars Festival in Amsterdam, November 2008, as well as their elaborate album art and music that is strangely evocative of their singular track titles (“They Raise the Dead Don’t They”, “All Animals in the Form of Water”).

The band are a French duo, Mehdi Ameziane (TwinSisterMoon) and Solange Gularte (Isengrind), who met in 1997 and started recording the following year (you can learn more about their history from their 2007 interview with Foxy Digitalis). Their output from the beginning was lo-fi and experimental (as you can hear from 1998-1999 early recordings Tracks on the Bloody Snow via their MySpace Music site), and they established the precedent of super-limited copies early on with their first label release, on Hinah in 2002, Ghost Folks, which was limited to 50 copies and is available to stream and download on Last.fm. In this album, you can hear the quiet beginnings of the unique NSB sound; haunting, wintry, and mysterious, conjuring up descriptors like ‘psychedelic’, ‘folk’, ‘ambient’ and ‘post-rock’ all at once.

After another limited private release (The Winter Ray in 2004, just 15 copies!), they released The Dance of the Moon and the Sun in 2006 (50x), which would later get a somewhat wider re-release in 2008 on Students of Decay. Currently out-of-print, this was a huge turning point in the band’s sound, and is probably their best-known release (#2 on the Rate Your Music charts for 2006). This double-disc album, an intense listen in one sitting, was further expanded with the limited pre-order edition in 2008, which also included mini-CDs The Moonraiser and The Sundowner, and the full-length Sunlit Stone – Sun (“Hunted Was My Brother” is my track pick, which you can check out at the end of this piece), and Sunlit Stone – Moon. The care and attention in the artwork and packaging of these releases is remarkable, which reflect the music within and stand out as impressive imagery on their own, with mystical and Native American themes. As if this mammoth, beautiful work wasn’t enough, 2008 saw several additional limited-release albums, including Between the Real and the Shadow (30x), Laurie Bird (100x), Night Coercion into the Company of Witches (22x), Slayer of the King of Hell (95x), and The Wheel of Sharp Daggers (135x). This consistent output seems to have strengthened their capability to create lengthy pieces with complicated textures, frequently 15 minutes+, though never seeming like they are ‘too long’ – they are easy to get lost in, and tell stories without words, apart from their titles, as the bulk of Natural Snow Buildings’ work is instrumentally based; likewise is Isengrind’s solo material (Golestan and Journey of the 7 Stars), while TwinSisterMoon’s solo albums introduce a stronger vocal and lyrical element (especially recommended is his most recent release, The Hollow Mountain).

Despite the usual scarcity, amidst abundant recording and production, there is a brilliant starting point of an album that is (currently!) available to purchase through Students of Decay (where you can also hear samples):The Snowbringer Cult, which is a double-disc released in 2008. This is a tour through all of the band’s core elements, starting with Isengrind’s bewitching solo tracks (described as “transporting us to some blasted bazaar where Eastern strings, haunted vocals and a marvelous universe of shaken and beaten percussion emanates from every dark corner of the windswept streets”), leading into TwinSisterMoon’s equally grand, yet more folk-oriented endeavors (“Kingdom of the Sea”). The next disc is a dual effort, on which some of their best yet lies: “Resurrect Dead on Planet Six”, “Nieve Sacra”, and the epic “They Do Not Come Knocking There Anymore”.

Their 2009 album Daughters of Darkness was released in an addition of 250 sets of cassette tapes through Blackest Rainbow, which were quickly snatched up. This was the first release from the band that I had heard, based solely upon a forum recommendation. From the title track, with its unusual textures, persistent glittering hum, and subtle sound changes, I was drawn in completely. This is no work to be taken lightly; at 6 hours long, Daughters of Darkness seems to serve as a soundtrack to something both sinister and beautiful, with its pagan track themes. I listened to this album in a weekend, in different sessions, sometimes almost being lulled to sleep because of its effect on me. Daughters of Darkness was followed by an additional cassette release, Daughters of Darkness V (you can hear an excerpt at Recollections of Knulp), further focused in telling a story, based on the track titles alone: “Blood in the Ground Linking Us All”, “The Damned and the Tortured”, “Psychic Navigation”, and “Masked Marvel”. This is a type of music that has an ancient, inspired feel, perhaps even transcending its creators in its majestic scope. Their next LP (“a triple one/double cd monster”!) is set to be out soon on Blackest Rainbow.

Of course, I am personally passionate about this music, and therefore biased (as I’m sure you’ve been able to tell!), but I must say this: giving the magic of Natural Snow Buildings a chance to work on you certainly has its rewards, just when you thought everything had been done before, here is a band that brings awareness to the process and delight of music creation itself, through their intricate, yet earthy, soundscapes, in hours upon hours of truly enjoyable music listening.

Natural Snow Buildings – “Hunted Was My Brother” (from Sunlit Stone – Sun)

Natural Snow Buildings – “They Are Still Hanging Around” (from Ghost Folks)

Waiting for our sight:

• What Will Replace MTV? (15)
• Our last year of independent? (7)
• Indie O’Clock: Tiny Tide and Nothing Meets All (7)
• Funny Little Bunny (6)
• Christmas Indie Ep from Japan (6)