MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: SNAILHOUSE - SENTIMENTAL GENTLEMAN

One might be forgiven for assuming Snailhouse, aka Mike Feuerstack is a Maritimer.  He is down our way quite a lot, and he's tied by choice to several of our favourite folk in the alt circuit.  The Montreal man shared a Juno with NB's Julie Doiron as a member of the Wooden Stars, and he's part of the Fredericton collective Forward Music, often seen in the company of such folks as Olympic Symphonium.  In fact, they are on tour together, and you can find future dates below.  In fact, half the Symph form the latest version of the greater Snailhouse band these days, although it will always be the place to find Feuerstack's personal writing, when he's not playing with Bell Orchestre or Angela Desveaux.

Whew!  The guy's a moving target then, now a half-dozen discs in the Snailhouse career.  He's the poet of the alt/low-fi/acoustic scene, whatever the heck that is.  Anyway, all those cool kids love the guy, mostly for his way with words, which are pretty darn admirable.  I'll give him some high-five action for the sounds this time out though, as he lifts his head from gazing at his shoes, sings out big and bright and lets the guitars chime a bit more too.  The title track is a thing of beauty, as poppy as he's going to get, a melody that will make you hug the person closest to you in the room, and Feuerstack admitting "I write the songs that make the grown men cry".  Oh blessed irony, he just quoted Manilow.  If you want those classic S-House lines though, don't fear, they are, as always, found a-plenty, my favourite being "Remember your enemies/They were your friends until they let you down".

Things never get fast here, it's all done no quicker than second gear, but it's not lethargic or sad either, it's a pleasant wash of sound and words, with some beautiful pedal steel that makes you smile, and Feuerstock's best-friend voice exactly the calming influence you want.  I'm feeling good about humanity right now, as the disc comes to an end.

Come see Snailhouse and Olympic Symphonium if you're in my neighbourhood, or later dates with our buddy Shotgun Jimmy:

June 02 - St.Andrews, NB: Sunbury Shores w/ The Olympic Symphonium

June 03 - Parkindale, NB: Parkindale Hall w/ The Olympic Symphonium

June 04 - Hampton, NB: Vintage Bistro w/ The Olympic Symphonium

June 09 - Moncton, NB: PlanB w/ Shotgun Jimmie

June 10 - Fredericton, NB: The Capital w/ Shotgun Jimmie

June 11 - Halifax, NS: The Seahorse w/ Shotgun Jimmie

June 12 - Sackville, NB: Thunder & Lightning w/ Shotgun Jimmie