Few albums are quite so urgently anticipated as the second record from the mesmeric Snakefarm. After ten years, they are back and My Halo At Half-Light reconfirms all the promise of their Songs From My Funeral debut.
As a solo artist, Anna Domino released four remarkable albums and two EP’s for the Belgian label Les Disques du Crepuscule, between 1984 and 1990. Those recordings are often cited as major influences on the British trip-hop movement centred around Massive Attack and Portishead. Yet, the glorious New York summer afternoon that SNAKEFARM crept into her consciousness, Domino knew she’d found a whole new musical window to leap through – “I was waiting for the light”, and said “We should take a bunch of those great old songs about murder and such, and start doing them with modern arrangements.” The idea refused to sit still, and as soon as she returned home, Domino and Delory set to work on the experiment. “Just to see what would happen.” Though subtle percussion and loops had distinguished her earlier recording, in Snakefarm Anna wanted the beats to be more prominent, yielding percolating arrangements that could carry the narrative content of the words. It worked. “It was so much fun,” confesses the singer, “the arrangements almost wrote themselves. What surprised me was how it didn’t take any forcing at all.”
“My Halo At Half-Light truly does pick up where its predecessor left off, looking back at the catalogue of American folk song and bringing it into new modern relevance in a way that others looking to update traditions could well learn from… Let the album seep into your soul and it’s a stunning piece of work.”Chris Nickson, fRoots
“Everything here sounds ‘right’. It’s not a matter of loving either The Stanley Brothers or Massive Attack: with Snakefarm you can have both and a third musical possibility, too. Outstanding!”????? John Crosby, R2
track list:
1 Little Maggie
2 Johnny
3 Staggerlee
4 Sadie
5 The Lady O
6 Omie Wise (you forget to answer)
7 Darlin’ Corey
8 Marbletown
9 The Bachelor
10 Michael
Anna Domino : vocals, keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, knives, finger snaps Michel Delory : acoustic, dobro and electric guitars, mandolin, banjo, bass, synth and drum programmes, percussion with Hearn Gadbois : hand percussion
Al Pahanish : drums Sebastian Steinberg : electric bass, upright bass
Release date: 26th September 2011
Barcode number: 5020393 308625
SNAKEFARM ~ My Halo At Half-Light FLED 3086 compact disc
£13.00
Description
Few albums are quite so urgently anticipated as the second record from the mesmeric Snakefarm. After ten years, they are back and My Halo At Half-Light reconfirms all the promise of their Songs From My Funeral debut.
As a solo artist, Anna Domino released four remarkable albums and two EP’s for the Belgian label Les Disques du Crepuscule, between 1984 and 1990. Those recordings are often cited as major influences on the British trip-hop movement centred around Massive Attack and Portishead. Yet, the glorious New York summer afternoon that SNAKEFARM crept into her consciousness, Domino knew she’d found a whole new musical window to leap through – “I was waiting for the light”, and said “We should take a bunch of those great old songs about murder and such, and start doing them with modern arrangements.” The idea refused to sit still, and as soon as she returned home, Domino and Delory set to work on the experiment. “Just to see what would happen.” Though subtle percussion and loops had distinguished her earlier recording, in Snakefarm Anna wanted the beats to be more prominent, yielding percolating arrangements that could carry the narrative content of the words. It worked. “It was so much fun,” confesses the singer, “the arrangements almost wrote themselves. What surprised me was how it didn’t take any forcing at all.”
“My Halo At Half-Light truly does pick up where its predecessor left off, looking back at the catalogue of American folk song and bringing it into new modern relevance in a way that others looking to update traditions could well learn from… Let the album seep into your soul and it’s a stunning piece of work.” Chris Nickson, fRoots
“Everything here sounds ‘right’. It’s not a matter of loving either The Stanley Brothers or Massive Attack: with Snakefarm you can have both and a third musical possibility, too. Outstanding!” ????? John Crosby, R2
track list:
1 Little Maggie
2 Johnny
3 Staggerlee
4 Sadie
5 The Lady O
6 Omie Wise (you forget to answer)
7 Darlin’ Corey
8 Marbletown
9 The Bachelor
10 Michael
Anna Domino : vocals, keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, knives, finger snaps
Michel Delory : acoustic, dobro and electric guitars, mandolin, banjo, bass, synth and drum programmes, percussion
with
Hearn Gadbois : hand percussion
Al Pahanish : drums
Sebastian Steinberg : electric bass, upright bass
Release date: 26th September 2011
Barcode number: 5020393 308625