SNEZ
HOUSE ON FOUR WHEELS
Regal Records/MGM/Green Distribution
Singer-songwriter folk
Like all the best songwriters, the Blue Mountains-based Snez is a sharp observer of the seemingly simple yet subtly unique characters that pass through all our lives – the lost soul who travels hoping to find “The One” when really he’s running away (Seigfreid), the old lady in black whose life is about the pigeons she feeds (Grandma Pidgeon) – as well as looking inward to see why she is the woman she’s become – her caring parents (Lucky Red Coat), what might have been (Loveliest Lovers), friends lost (Mr Mouse & Me). Here and there the odd blissfully McCartneyesque chord progression glistens through, as it does in Head Towards Wonderful, a gentle reminder that “First World problems” really aren’t. Those progressions are probably in part channeling through her songwriting, musical and life partner, the multi-instrumentalist co-producer Stewart Peters, whose CV includes working with legendary songwriting powerhouse Vanda & Young. An album joyful, defiant and vulnerable by turns, complete with final track, Hot Air Balloon – three movements in three minutes.
MICHAEL SMITH