The quiet, reflective and reverberated voice of Liam “Snowy” Halliwell glides over the gentle guitars in Snowy Band‘s beautiful new single ‘Whatever You Want’. There is a luminescent glow to the track: burnished by the glorious backing vocals and the guitar lines that follow the melody like a glove. There a yearning dream pop reverie compounded by the hypnotic circular musical base: giving it an air of tranquility and pose.
The themes are dark and poignant – according to the band, the track:
…explores the extremes we are capable of in the name of love. It’s seemingly heart-warming chorus – which arrived fully formed upon waking one morning, then quickly recorded as a phone voice memo – is betrayed with darker verses (“Swore I would kill for you / Whatever you ask me to”). Despite all of the song’s hyperbole of devotion it is undercut by the opening line “I’ve got a history / That cannot help repeating” suggesting these are patterns of destruction. The song was inspired itself by recurring anxiety dreams; running late to catch doomed flights and trains, trying in vain to perform unmemorised lines onstage, endlessly checking into shared accomodation of tiny rooms stacked with children’s bunk-beds. “I’ve seen / The Airbnb where I die in my sleep” is the songs bleak premonition, an unremarkable death in the depths of the gig economy. Not even nearly as romantic as a classic overdose in a hotel room.
On this evidence, Snowy Band are something quite special: intelligent, thoughtful lyrics matched with an ambient instrumentation and melody.
Snowy Band are Liam ‘Snowy’ Halliwell, Nat Pavlovic, Emma Russack, and Dylan Young.
‘Whatever You Want’ is off the band’s forthcoming album ‘Alternative Endings’, out on 27 August 2021 through Happiness (Palo Santo Music Group) and can be pre-ordered below:
You can also pre-order vinyl directly from Happiness Records here.
