Release date: July 12, 2005

Ok, people, behold my first official review of a yet-to-be-released album!

Snow & Voices is here to help us christen Beautiful Pain’s redesign. Before I give you my thoughts, here is a tidbit from the press release I received along with the album: “The debut album from Snow & Voices, a loosely-knit amalgamation of musicians who gather in support of Los Angeles singer/songwriter Lauri Kranz, the voice and stylistic visionary behind the project... Snow & Voices fits nicely alongside the likes of Mazzy Star (or anything to do with Hope Sandoval), Mia Doi Todd, Bebel Gilberto, Beck’s Sea Change, and even the likes of Travis, Coldplay and Dido.” The press release goes on to compare Lauri’s lyrical style to Jeff Tweedy, Bonnie Prince Billy, Elliott Smith, Joni Mitchell, and the Beatles.

I’m glad to hear that they’re a local group of artists (local for me, at least). And as a graphic designer, I was immediately pleased with the CD artwork, so they get a few extra points for that. But it was the press release that had me wondering what the album really was about. It actually said the album “sounds best at night,” and after popping the CD into my player at 3:00 in the afternoon, I must admit they were right. Snow & Voices is very much a late-night coffee house album: calm but deliberate, catchy yet unassuming.

The opening track, “Carry Us Home”, gives the album a lazy but sensual start. It’s not too hard to notice that Lauri Kanz does have a beautiful, if not “safe”, voice and vocal style. The piano arrangement is pretty and the drum beat is steady, giving a picnicking in the rain feel. However, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat distracted by the piercing electronic sounds pulsing in the background.

Now, I would have given Snow & Voices the benefit of the doubt and said that “Carry Us Home” is a good song and waited to see what was coming next, if the very next song, “Nothing Certain”, didn’t sound so much like the preceding song. “Nothing Certain” has a more obvious drum beat and the dark piano arrangement is more prominent, but the vocal arrangements and over-all mood of both songs are so similar you’d hope they’d at least place them a few tracks apart. I do give credit for lyrical imagery on “Nothing Certain”: “time is like the ocean / time is like the sea / I wait upon the water / to bring time back to me.”

“A Dream Of Happiness” sounds just like the title suggests. Lauri does treat us with a different vocal style, singing in a slighter higher key where the readiness in her voice is better suited. This track employs a subdued electric guitar in place of the piano, which gives the song a more up-beat and catchy tone. Like I said, it would sound best in a coffee house, but it won’t leave you running for the door with your latte, either.

When I first heard the opening for the fourth track, “In Pieces Through The Door”, I smiled immediately, not just because I recognized the Beck comparison, but because it was a relief to hear something different. I don’t mind the first three songs, but I was ready for some variation. “In Pieces” gave me the variation I was looking for. It’s up-beat and a bit odd, the vocals are varied and interesting (although the electronic vocal treatment is a bit unnecessary), the mixture of live instruments and electronic sounds blend perfectly, and even the lyrics gave me something to ponder. It’s amazing how a certain mood of a song can inspire abstract—and more interesting—lyrics. “I’m new in the mirror / I cut my hair / there’s a blue woman inside of there / now I wish it was Monday / I wish it was not so quiet / and every day was my birthday.” I must admit, I actually really like this song; it even made it onto my mp3 player.

As did the next song, “Goodnight New York.” It’s another piano-based song, sans drums, and beautifully composed. The vocal style is again more similar to the first two songs, but they work so much better in the darker, more sorrowful environment that surrounds this song. This is the song with the Coldplay mirror, but where Chris Martin’s voice tends to try to take over his music, Lauri’s voice flows through this song like a leaf in an Autumn breeze. There aren’t very many lyrics in this song as it’s mostly Lauri singing “goodnight New York” over and over as the string arrangement kicks in. Really, it’s beautiful.

It’s clear that the belly of the album is where the jewels are. Following the two best songs on the album, “Like A Flower to the Sun” features vocals so similar to Michelle Branch’s that it made me cringe just a little, but Lauri does a nice job of preventing herself from going all pop-alternative on us. This is the song that probably has the most musical variation to it, with an acoustic guitar leading the way next to a drum arrangement that finally doesn’t sound like it’s being trapped in a choke-hold. It’s a song about love that [thankfully] doesn’t make you feel even more lonely.

“Ordinary Girl” was the one that had me scratching my head. Call me crazy, but it just doesn’t make sonic sense. The song begins with an organ, but in some bizarre twist Lauri’s voice cuts in like a dull razor — it’s in a completely different key and remains that way for a minute into the song, until the organ finally hits the right key for the chorus. Actually, the three times the chorus surfaces are the only times where the vocals and music work together instead of against each other. Separately, they work; the organ sounds quite intriguing with the loose drum beat over it, and the vocal arrangement is interesting and pretty. But together, it’s almost painful.

“No Regrets” is a catchy one similar to “Like A Flower to the Sun”, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It probably should be in the first half of the album in place of “Nothing Certain” or “A Dream of Happiness” to break up the snooze-fest. Actually, if you re-arrange the album, half of it would be in your coffee house mix and the other half in your “driving up the coast with the windows down” mix, and “No Regrets” would be in the latter. Lauri surprised me at one point in this song by actually having two layers of vocals and actually belting a little. It left me wanting more, but at least it was there, if only for a few lines. I could have done without the “L” word (as in l-o-v-e) surfacing yet again, but I forgive them since it’s an interestingly fun song.

“Go Your Own Way” is the Mazzy Star tribute, with Lauri reaching for those high notes in her ready style that raises the hairs on the back of your neck. The use of the quiet electric guitar gives the song a slight Cat Power feel to it, and because of this, “Go Your Own Way” is probably one of the most indie-folk songs on the album. This is a great tv/movie soundtrack song... anyone taking notes?

They found a decent way to end the album with “You Are Beside Me”, with the exception of the “L” word making an appearance, again. Don’t get me wrong, you can sing about love all you want, but I’ve found it has a greater impact if you can find other adjectives to describe it. “You Are Beside Me” certainly isn’t my favorite on the album as the drums rediscovered the choke-hold, but it’s pretty and it’s flowy. It really doesn’t do justice to the bulk of the album, but “Carry Us Home” as an opener doesn’t do justice to it either, so I guess they both book-end the album in an even but rather mundane way.

It’s no secret that Snow & Voices probably won’t make it onto my “Best of 2005” list, but the album is an interesting start for this collection of artists. If they continue to produce records, Lauri Kranz may very well follow in the footsteps of Mazzy Star or Zero 7, but it would be my hope that the comparison to those artists will wane with the release of their next record. I’d like to see Lauri and the musicians take the original bits from this album and elaborate on them to give us something to be really excited about. They’ve got the right ingredients, but maybe it all just needs to be mixed together a little differently.