It’s been a while since my part of the world saw any considerable amount of snow. About 10 years, I think. And if I remember correctly, it’s more than 20 years that my street was snowed in overnight and that I could not go into work in the morning, because the snow ploughs had not yet reached the outskirts of town and our street. Today, that amount of snow, resulting in snowed-in streets, cars and houses appears science fiction.
Living on the outskirts of town has always had its advantages and its disadvantages. The intensity of weather phenomena you experience, snowfall used to be among them, can be filed under both. Taking the dog out for a walk in the forest or through the fields on a wet day means having to thoroughly clean it afterward as well – a messy business, which neither the dog nor I are fond of. Yet the dog has to go out, no matter what the weather is like. This can result in both exhausting and beautiful experiences.
Yes, I still remember walking on snowy paths that no one else has trodden on and stopping in a random place, in the middle of a snowy forest, without a single person around, the dog’s accelerated breathing the only sound to be heard. I remember experiencing the cold, the clarity, and among little clouds of frozen breath, the silence in the snow. Will my children get to experience that? Unlikely. Not if they stay in this part of the world. Here, big amounts of snow are a thing of the past. One whole chapter that defined childhoods and whole lives wiped out by climate change.
Such is my stream of thought connected to the name of the project at hand. With me, it activates a heavy melancholia, getting only stronger when I press play on their music. Was this their intention? Maybe.
Silence in the Snow are a duo from California consisting of Cyn M and drummer Trevor DeSchryver (who has also been active in Wolves in the Throne Room and Deafheaven). Originally, the band started out as a solo project of Cyn M. The self-released debut album Break In The Skin (2016) featured a minimalist sound palette, yet all that makes Silence in the Snow what they are today was already audible in that first release. The heavy melancholia, the pristine coldness and the gaping emptiness infusing the project’s name are also felt in the dark ethereal music and in Cyn M’s vocal performance.
The sophomore full-length Levitation Chamber, which we also reviewed here and which was one of my favourite albums of 2019, was widely labelled as dark wave and post punk, yet it had one big advantage to many such projects – real drumming instead of a drum machine. And that made all the difference. The project’s music thus featured a familiar sound, yet their songs had more texture and more detail, more individuality.
Originally based in Oakland, the duo has since moved to Arcata, in the north of California, a setting less urban and more organic. The change in surroundings has naturally seeped into the music as well. The duo’s new album Ghost Eyes, while still to be classified as dark wave and post punk, has slightly warmer sonic textures compared to previous releases, now calling The Cure, Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees to mind. I enjoyed it, just as I enjoyed its predecessor.
My favourite track is not the obvious one – the excellent, dramatic, pre-released single Ghost Eyes. Instead, I like the closing number Death of the Heart best. I like the song’s deep, rhythmic undercurrent and the implications of its lyrics. Yes, with parts of our familiar reality disappearing around us, we too are dying off, bit by bit.
(8/10 Slavica)
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