{"id":20890,"date":"2021-04-23T05:30:30","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T09:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=20890"},"modified":"2021-04-19T16:39:38","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T20:39:38","slug":"album-review-snowglobe-our-land-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/23\/album-review-snowglobe-our-land-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Snowglobe &#8212; Our Land Brains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-20891\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/snowglobe_our_land_brains.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"349\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/snowglobe_our_land_brains.jpg 350w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/snowglobe_our_land_brains-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/snowglobe_our_land_brains-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>The groups associated with the Athens, Georgia-based Elephant 6 Collective are a mixed bag. While all share a certain musical sensibility, Neutral Milk Hotel and Of Montreal each appeal to a slightly different subset of listeners than does Olivia Tremor Control (my personal favorite). And what is and is not an Elephant 6 band is the matter of some debate; some consider the Memphis-based Snowglobe part of the pack, while others don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Ignoring geography and focusing instead upon musical values, Snowglobe shares characteristics with Olivia Tremor Control. Take grand ambitions \u2013 the kind of mindset that theoretically leads to a <i>Pet Sounds<\/i> or at least a Van Dyke Parks record \u2013 and combine them with limited access to (a) the necessary funds and (b) the studio technology, and you might end up with something like <i>Our Land Brains<\/i>, Snowglobe\u2019s 2002 long-playing debut.<\/p>\n<p>Every bit as fascinating and engaging as OTC\u2019s 1996 debut <i>Dusk at Cubist Castle<\/i>, Snowglobe\u2019s debut features a rich and textured tapestry of instruments not often found on rock albums. Pop gems like \u201cDream Works\u201d recall everything from Paul Williams to Three Dog Night to Harry Nilsson to \u2026 well, some of those Elephant 6 bands. You\u2019re more likely to hear creaky, parlor-room upright piano than some studio grand.<\/p>\n<p>Fiddles, tympani and banjos weave in and out of the mix. The term Americana hadn\u2019t yet entered the lexicon as a musical term when <i>Our Land Brains<\/i> was made, but the manner in which the record draws from pre- and non-rock traditions means that it falls (if loosely) into that category. A resolutely indie sensibility keeps things from falling into self-conscious precious territory.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia Tremor Control had the keen foresight to release their debut on vinyl (and then to reissue it in that format multiple times). For whatever reason \u2013 lack of pressing plants? \u2013 Snowglobe\u2019s <i>Our Land Brain<\/i> never got a vinyl version \u2026 until now. Somehow it seems fitting that this jewel of an album is receiving a vinyl reissue. The Nine Mile Records 2LP version is packaged in a sturdy gatefold sleeve, but listeners seeking information beyond song titles will be forced to look elsewhere; even the record labels are bereft of details.<\/p>\n<p>But then that\u2019s not the point. Come \u2013 and stay \u2013 for the music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The groups associated with the Athens, Georgia-based Elephant 6 Collective are a mixed bag. While all share a certain musical sensibility, Neutral Milk Hotel and Of Montreal each appeal to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,64,65,73],"tags":[4504],"class_list":["post-20890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-snowglobe","cat-39-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20892,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20890\/revisions\/20892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}