Available on: Ho Tep 12″

‘Un Vingt’

Throwing Snow is a really evocative name, isn’t it? Nostalgia, textural associations, both comforting warmth and glistening coldness – it’s all there. It’s one of those names that’s so good that you really hope the music lives up to it, and on ‘Un Vingt’, Throwing Snow’s debut release for Alexander Nut’s new label, Ho Tep, it does.

‘Un Vingt’ has an brisk shuffle to it just like walking in snow, with glistening breakdowns that emerge like clearings in amongst trees. Echoes of distant voices carry in the air, with all the associations you’d expect from music that reflects its maker’s name to this extent. Think Floating Points’ scuffed grooves combined with Lawrence’s romantic winter aesthetic, add a touch of FaltyDL and you’re in the right ball park.

B-Side ‘Cronos’ is less powdery, with heavy, clipped clicks and feverishly hallucinating synths not a million miles from Kyle Hall’s recent ‘Kaychunk’. It’s definitely the weaker of the two tracks here, but still contributes to one Hell of a debut 12″. Just don’t tell Dave Clarke that we’ve been talking about texture again.

Tom Lea