"It would a little odd if Snowbird didn't remind people of the Cocteau Twins", says ex-Twin and Bella Union boss Simon Raymonde philosophically.
Inevitable too since the serene babble of Stephanie's Dosen's dreamy voice is very like that of Elizabeth Fraser. It's no coincidence that she, like Fraser, been asked to sing with Massive Attack on tour and has also sung with the Chemical Brothers.
“All the stories on the record are night-time stories, forest-y and moonlit” says Dosen, a fact that is easy enough to glean from titles such as Charming Birds From Trees, Come To The Woods and Heart Of The Woods.
We are deep in the land of Shoegaze bliss here and listeners will immediately find themselves surrounded by owls, ghosts, foxes, bears and white mice which all join forces to create an other-worldly atmosphere.
The record was conceived as a long distance labour of love with Raymonde producing simple melodies on a baby grand piano in London and Dosen adding vocal arrangements in North Carolina where she was based following her 2007 album A Lily For The Spectre (produced by Raymonde).
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To flesh out the sound, there are low-key contributions from guest musicians including Radiohead's Phillip Selway and Ed O'Brien, Midlake guitarist Eric Pulido and drummer McKenzie Smith.
First copies come with a bonus album of dubby remixes of each of the eleven tracks by Michigan’s RxGibbs, titled Luna, which emphasise the album's moonstruck qualities.
The melodies are as fluffy as the knitwear Dosen designs, as fragile as the Porcelain she sings about and as delicate as the white feather on the cover artwork.
Many will long for something tougher and more durable but there's beauty in its preciousness and the dreamlike grace is hard to resist.
Snowbird's artist page on Bella Union
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