Week 6 of 52 albums for a year
Treebeard - Snowman
Hello everyone.
This week I listened to an album called Snowman by Treebeard. It was an album that rated quite highly on Pojama People's top 20 albums for 2024, a show hosted by Chris Pearson on a local community radio station called PBS.
I love myself some post rock, and while I don't know Treebeards other album Nostalgia, I do love Snowman.
Unlike other weeks where there are a lot of lyrics and changes from song to song, Snowman has a tendency to roll from one song to another. Sure, you can listen to the second song and it's good, but if you start from the first track Black Sand, the music catches you in a nice warm embrace, then pulls you, gently at first, towards something far greater.
Post rock is closer to soundtrack music than other genres and it's not until I got to the song Mountains of Madness that there were any lyrics. I often don't want any lyrics when I'm listening to this style of music, but I feel like they sat far enough back in the mix to not be obtrusive. As time went on, I found myself actually quite liking this song and it may be my favourite on the album. I don't have a clue what he is singing, but it sounds great to my ears.
The album flows well from heavy songs like Great White and Mountains of Madness to more gentle songs like Nigel or Take Heart. Songs like Incognita, Erberus, and Snowman fit somewhere in the middle, combining quite heavy moments with beautiful dynamics.
Clocking in at around an hour long, I found it was a great album to both write to and go to the gym to. The pensive and quite moments fit in really well for me when they were mixed amongst some moments that were closer to metal than anything else. Songs like Lieutenant have the kind of upbeat ending that is typical of post rock, giving an epic feel to whatever it is you're doing while you're listening to it. I swear, you could watch a leaf fall from a tree when some of these riffs kick in and you would feel like it's the most majestic fucking moment of the day.
With all of this in mind, I think I'd give this album 4 fingers out of 5. It's pretty special, I can see myself coming back to it frequently, but for me here's a few moments that don't hit it out of the park. There's nothing bad on this album, I'd recommend it to everyone to put it on while you're going for a walk or looking at some amazing scenery. It may be that 5 listens just isn't enough for an album this dense to grow on me enough for a 5/5 rating. Sure, I'm listening to it a lot, but I remember when I first heard what has grown to be one of my favourite albums, We Lost The Sea's Triumph and Disaster. I did not like this album a whole lot when I heard it the first few times. It wasn't until I saw them live that I 'got' it, and when I went back to it on subsequent listens I adored it and couldn't believe I hadn't loved it from day 1.
This album I liked from the opening notes. So it bodes well that with time, I'll be putting it on more. But for now, I'll stick with the 4/5.
The year so far: