Customer Reviews

Too Loud for the Snowman

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had heard good things about Sanford Arms and decided to try them out (after I downloaded an MP3). This is definitely a "lazy album" as mentioned by one of the other reviewers.

The truth is the first time I put this album in I was kind of turned off. It seemed a bit too slow and drawn out. but after listening to it a couple more times I started to appreciate it.
This album has a great relaxed feel to it. The songs are loaded with great sounds that keep me interested. Definitely not some cookie cutter sound that seems to be a trend these days. If you like Spyglass (on same label) and sounds like Belle and Sebastian, then try these guys. Well worth the money. And never grow out of punk as others might have.

5 Stars. After far too long in hiding, former Alcohol Funnycar frontman Ben London returns with a devastatingly world-weary collection of songs. The guitars have been turned down from London's previous work, yet this effort still boils over with fervor. "Too Loud for the Snowman" is a painfully detailed account of how it feels to have life collapse on you. London's exceptional eye for how people lose their direction provides comfort for the wasted days, and the morning after.

Those of us who are originally from places with distinct seasons - where the end of summer actually signifies something - may be better equipped to handle Too Loud for the Snowman. The debut from Ben London's Seattle-based pop outfit is so good that it can actually make you cold. These 12 songs all seem to take place on the first night you can see your breath in the air, the last twilight you spend with a fading summer love.

"I've been laying here like a yearbook on your shelf," London sings on "Mercury." "Pull out from time to time so you can laugh at yourself." The dreamily pensive guitars build toward a rousing climax as the mercury keeps falling and falling. This is the best song on a strong album; in fact, it's one of the best-crafted pop songs of the year.

London is the sole songwriter on the album, and his songs are continually smarter than just about anything else that's out there. The lyrics actually feel like you haven't heard them a million times before, and he continually hones in on sharp imagery. Sanford Arms formed three years ago - composed of veterans from the Seattle indie scene - yet this is their first album together. The patience shows. In terms of mood, the album lingers somewhere near Coldplay's Parachutes. While Snowman may not provoke the same commercial clamoring, it is actually the better of the two albums. London sidesteps mopiness, even if his heart is being broken, and the Sanford sound is both fully rooted and polished. "These days are the hardest," starts "Ohio Summers Ends." London's wistful vocals float over the subtle string arrangement and Rob Dent's lazy cadence. "The silence is uncomfortable for someone who likes to speak." And you know it hurts - you've been hurt like this before - and yet you can't help wanting to be back there again.
-- Adam McKibbin

"Just a song at twilight before I go," Sanford Arms' Ben London sings on "Mercury." The midtempo song builds to its chorus as if running uphill, telling of the end of summer and a romance. London's voice strains at the dissolution and entropy of something that had seemed certain and real only a few months before but, like the weather, has chilled.

Departures and reversals fill the lyrics on Too Loud for the Snowman. The cosmic cowboy that moves in waltz time on Sanford Arms' debut isn't so much a distant relative of Jimmie Dale Gilmore as a drinking buddy of Joe Pernice. Former Alcohol Funnycar leader London possesses a downy voice and a wounded delivery that convey early-morning reckonings and late-night comforts.

The dozen songs are lushly crafted with idiosyncratic touches, playing as a remorse-laden song cycle with a clear-eyed observance that keeps the emotions in check. The lolling cadence and ghostly arrangements are built on Harris Thurmond's lonesome guitar, Jeff Wood's melodic bass, and Rob Dent's loopy drums. Rob Witmer's keys and accordion float through the soundscape, swelling to oceanic proportions and then ebbing back behind London's voice.

Producer Tucker Martine (Modest Mouse, Bill Frisell) creates a simpatico environment for the compositions with just the right balance of space and compression to let them breathe while keeping them grounded. That's the perfect twilight for Sanford Arms to hitch hook-laden pop melodies to folk-country cadences.
-- NATE LIPPENS

Sanford Arms includes members of Seattle bands that never really became huge (Alcohol Funnycar, Best Kissers in the World, Hammerbox). This is a great lazy album, not in the sense of "Man, these guys didn't really put forth a strong effort." The lazy I'm thinking of is the "It's 8pm on a Friday night, the work week is over, I'm going to kick back in the recliner, throw on a sweatshirt and watch some network TV dramas until I drift off to sleep".

Let's face it, we can't be young and punks for the rest of our lives -- there has to come a day when we grow up, start a family, get a corporate job, and start drinking coffee. It looks like the guys in Sanford Arms have already reached that place and decided that it's not that bad.

"Smolder" and "Let it Show" are my two favorites by the way.

I got turned onto this record off of the radio (KEXP) in Seattle. I heard a few songs and then I bought it. I think it is awesome. It has so much depth. really cool sounds. I would highly recommend it.

I got turned onto this record off of the radio (KEXP) in Seattle. I heard a few songs and then I bought it. I think it is awesome. It has so much depth. Really cool sounds. I highly recommend it.