Snog- City EP

ARTIST: Snog
ALBUM: City EP
LABEL: Metropolis Records
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 6-7-08

The latest digital-only EP from Snog features nearly an hour of music, with the lion's share devoted to alternate mixes of the title track. True fans will probably want to pick this up for the exclusive tracks, including two collaborations with Australian techno outfit The Monster Zoku Onsomb!, who share a love of playfully weird electronic music with Snog mastermind David Thrussell. "Keep a Truckin'" sets Thrussell's breathy snarls to tense tribal rhythms and what sounds like surf guitar played through a broken amplifier, and "Social Disease" sets Thrussell's tongue-in-cheek misanthropy to dark but funky breakbeats. Of the other two exclusive offerings, "All Hail" is a mostly acoustic ballad that highlights Thrussell's interest in classic country, with bits of static and random samples seeping in from the more industrialized side of things, while "License" is playful cynicism, Thrussell taking the role of self-centered consumer parody over throbbing electro rhythms. While it's these previously unpublished tracks that make this a mandatory download for Thrussell collectors, the real gems here are the multiple mixes of title track "City." Already the most unexpectedly pretty song on Snog's most recent album, it's presented in multiple forms here, each of them poignant in its own way. A completely acoustic version, just Thrussell singing to his guitar, strips things down to highlight the uncharacteristically sincere lyrics, painting a much more nuanced picture of Thrussell's relationship with the urban landscape than his usual sarcastic jeremiads. On the opposite end of the spectrum, experimental electronic producer Hecq's remix strips out the vocals entirely, replacing them with deep piano chords reverberating through a soundscape of rain and traffic, and manages to convey the song's bittersweet mood just as perfectly. At its heart, "City" is a break-up song addressed to a place, rather than a person, and this EP makes the ideal soundtrack for lonely nights, especially if you're an urban dweller who feels betrayed and neglected by the metropolis around you. Snog is better known for biting cynicism, and this song's unexpected tenderness makes "City" an extra stirring listen.

Check out Snog and the rest of David Thrussell's various artistic outlets at www.worldwentdown.com/imcc.