Snorkel - Glass Darkly - 1CD

Glass Darkly is the debut album of improvising collective SNORKEL - their live sound was captured over three freezing days in a studio behind a fish factory, before retiring to the warmth of snorkel studios to extract the key moments from these sessions and apply some finishing touches.

The album opens with the slow build of the post-apocalyptic opener As the Dust Settles from there the edgy mood is sustained - riding the turbulence in Carpet Flying, grappling with the angry rattle of Alligator, avoiding obstacles in the cut and run of Rub Attractor/My Elephant, before self-deconstructing with the squat pop finale of This Headphone Mix.

Glass Darkly captures the spirit of the band's spontaneous performances and the rough-edged guerilla tactics of a band addicted to the dark side of the groove, who leave their audiences with "the ghostly jam of Miles Davis, Sonic Youth and Lee Perry smeared all over our asses". [Paul Hawkins/3Barfire]

Credits:
Charles Stuart - synths, drum machine, rhodes, piano, voice
Ben Cowen - synths, sampler
Frank Byng - drums, dr sample, electronic percussion
129 - MPC, unprepared guitar, casiotone, voice
Tom Marriott - trombone + fx
Lucas Suarez - guitar
+
Oren Marshall - tuba [9]

Produced by Frank Byng