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BY VAL C. PHOENIX |
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Snowpony, Grandaddy, Rollerball Satyricon 125 NW 6th Ave., 243-2380 10 pm Tuesday, Oct. 6 $6 In their previous bands, they battered your ears, confused your mind and numbed you with one-chord wonderment. But now they've joined forces for an altogether different sound. The British alterna-rock trio Snowpony is fronted by Katharine Gifford, previously keyboardist with Stereolab and singer with Moonshake, and also features bassist Debbie Googe, formerly of wall-of-sound architects My Bloody Valentine, and ex-Moonshaker Kevin Bass on drums. Gifford, who writes the material and programs its impressive array of samples, is relishing the chance to stretch her wings. Snowpony's sample-based music combines elements of her love for many forms of music--country, Northern soul and hip-hop among them--with a dry English delivery Morrissey would be proud of. The band's a puzzling amalgamation to many people, and one Gifford feels is more at home in America. "I think the American music scene for alternative music is a lot broader than it is here [in England], and people are more open-minded," she says. "Here, at the moment, the alternative scene is very much dominated by boy guitar bands who all sound quite mainstream to me." Feeling detached from that sort of company, Snowpony chose Tortoise's left-field wizard John McEntire to produce the full-length debut. "Once he understood the song and how it was supposed to feel," Gifford says of McEntire, "he was really good at creating the right sort of feel in a way I never would've thought of." Awash in moods, from slow-burning grooves to spacey atmospherics, The Slow-Motion World of Snowpony (Radioactive) offers a weathered view of relationships with a recurring theme of loss: lost time, lost opportunities and lost lovers. For instance, lead-off track "Easy Way Down" bemoans the fact that "time is moving so fast, and I haven't done anything yet." Much of the material explores the emotional fallout of break-ups. In "A Way to Survive," which Gifford says is the most personal song on the album, she recalls the outline of a lover's body on the bed and admits, "What I thought was love was only lust." Gifford says living in Dalston, the East London neighborhood she calls home, has infected her songwriting with bleakness. Yet good humor is always just around the corner. While Gifford is upfront, making outrageous claims between giggles, her ex-lover Googe offers quiet support and the occasional deadpan comment. Dry humor appears to be a prerequisite for membership in this band. Asked about their plans for the future, Gifford exclaims wryly, "We're going to at some point do an EP called Debbie Does Dalston. The songs are all about Debbie and Dalston anyway. We'd just make it more explicit." Asked to elaborate, Googe demurs, saying, "No, No. You'll have to wait for the EP." The band's live shows are exuberant, at times incendiary affairs, with Googe lunging across the stage looking as if she'll impale anyone in her path. Gifford adopts a drag pose, decked out in a gown and four-inch heels, fake curls trailing down her back. The show builds to a climax with "Bad Sister," a tale of a naughty alter ego. The performance of this song often ends in a duel between the tattooed singer and menacing bassist to see who can nail the beat harder, and Gifford has been known to slam the mike stand or rip off her hair extension to make her point. Keep in mind this has all been witnessed and given the seal of approval by no less an authority than Gifford's mother, who witnessed a show at a London strip club. Recalls Googe, "She came in afterwards and was sort of...glowing." Gifford sighs and says, "She was very enthusiastic. I think she just does it to annoy me."
originally published September 30, 1998
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