I took a half-day today from my day job so I could come home and get caught up on some other work stuff and things around the house. I have been home for four hours and so far have taken a nap, painted my nails, and made a couple of cups of coffee. Needless to say, my motivation is gone, non-existent. I feel like I don’t have the attention span to get anything done around here or get caught up on emails so I may as well check out some new music, right?
Ohio-based band snarls may be fairly new (having formed just in 2019), but as soon as I hit play on their album ‘Burst’, I didn’t get a new band at all. I got seasoned veterans with a perfect connection. “Walk In The Woods” kicks off this ten-song album by creating an almost dreamy soundscape. As soon as the vocals came in, I was in love. You can feel the emotion in the words even with the instrumentation creating this beautiful soundscape of power behind them. There’s something calming and peaceful about snarls’ sound and it was exactly what I needed to help me find my motivation for the rest of the day.
“Marbles” keeps with this calming vibe that snarls clearly does so well but brings a new vibe of slight angst. It’s a perfect blend of the indie-rock world I’ve fallen into lately with the emo world of days gone by that I still claim alliance to. There aren’t a million verses or anything during this song but the words that are chosen for this track are real and relatable to a painful point. As the album moved onto “Twenty”, I realized that this is one of the best elements of this band. “Twenty” was an instant favorite of mine lyrically. “I’m not who I thought I was gonna be/ Chas my tail and dreams like a fucking freak”. Seriously, those words are just so real honest, and something that you may say to yourself when you’re left alone at night with sad songs playing over your speakers. This song got a couple of plays before I moved on to “What’s It Take”.
The danciness of “What’s It Take” instantly shot me out of the existential crisis that “Twenty” seemed to put me in. The lyrics still hit to the core but there is just something a little more playful about this track and the beat is something that instantly got stuck in my head. Just when I was getting ready to find the closest cat to dance with, “Hair” took over my house and brought yet another vibe to my world. This track is a bit more dissonant and aggressive in a way without being any more powerful or angry than the previous tracks. I don’t know how else to explain it but there’s just something about this song that has a bitter edge that is presented perfectly by this band.
“Better Off” is the perfect eff you song to all of your exes. It’s triumphant and resilient even while still having this unspoken dreamscape being created behind all of the words. Although my love life is actually going pretty well right now (for once!), I loved this track and it was a favorite that was promptly added to my daily playlist full of all of my favorite tracks. “‘Concrete” continues with the resilient feeling of “Better Off” but with a little more amplification. The way the vocals kind of crack and crackle in this song during certain words and phrases is absolutely pure gold and it makes you feel the music in your soul whether or not you’re paying close attention to the words.
The acoustic nature of “All of This Will End” is beautiful and the lyrics are, again, heartbreaking, creating a beautiful piece of music that will surely make you sit back and just take it all in. Again, like “Concrete”, whether you can relate to the lyrics or not, you can feel them all the way to your core. It’s a mixture of the vocal styling and the laid back instrumentation.
“Falling” starts off with a perfect crescendo of sound before falling back into a sound that can only be described as snarls’. I really can not stress enough how great this band is at mixing this almost dream-pop like soundscape with emo lyrics and vibe while keeping a very indie-pop vibe about the whole thing. It’s beautiful and genius and if I had to pick one track for you to listen to so you could really get a feel of all that snarls can offer, “Falling” would be that song.
The title track “Burst” closes out this amazing album but it doesn’t really end it. This track makes you want to go back and start this album all over again. It leaves so many unanswered questions about this band like who all are their influences, how did they come up with their song structures, who do they sound like, etc. This band is just all over the place and it’s hard to relate them to anyone but their sound and feeling are still so familiar and comforting.
I should really get some work done, maybe do the laundry– you know, the things that were the reason for me bailing on my day job early today but now I have a feeling I will be spending some time digging into this amazing band.
My Favorite Track(s): “Twenty”; “Better Off”; “Falling”
For Fans Of: Dreamy Afternoons; Punchy Lyrics; Getting Lost In Music
Daydream-ability: 8 out of 10
What My Cats Thought Of It: Artie slept on the back of the couch; Autumn slept up on my bad
How Badly I Want To See This Performed Live: 6 out of 10
My Overall Rating: 7 out of 10
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