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MH-271 Zoon van snooK - (Falling From) The Nutty Tree  (Falling from) The Nutty Tree, the debut long player from enigmatic Bristolian Zoon van snooK, playfully treads a fine line between the ostensibly gleeful and affably sinister echelons of the Oddtronica spectrum. Chopped, clipped and pulverised beats, tacit vocal samples, found sound and curious field recordings provide the rhythmical backdrop to an accompanying plethora of plucked, chimed and slapped instrumophones. Jazz-flecked piano chords, bucolic melodies of layered ukuleles and accordions, combined with the throb of glitched-out synth lines create an infectious journey through Zoon’s left-of-centre electrickery. With nods to the likes of Four Tet, Boards of Canada and Múm, (Falling from) The Nutty Tree is a warm, humorous and hook-laden sonic collage of Kitchen-sink eccentronica. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| Journey through the experimental sounds of a mad scientist and lose yourself within layers of acoustic and glitched out electronic synths thrown into a roaring explosion of beats and vocal compositions. Alec takes audible cues from influences such as Four Tet, Boards of Canada and Múm and the end result is a sonic collage of epic proportions. - Deftune |
| Reviews |
| I wouldn't be too surprised if you've never heard of the oddly named Zoon van Snook (real name Alex Snook) before today. He's only got a couple thousand plays on music networking site last.fm and barely any press outside of his home in the UK. Snook cut his musical teeth playing keyboards for a number of small-time British bands throughout the 2000s. Now he's entered the electronic music fray with his first solo LP (Falling From) The Nutty Tree, a good first effort that is by no means immune to the many pitfalls common in modern electronic music. Snook's music stays mostly within the rather wide parameters of his self-defined "oddtronica" genre, which seems to mean bubbly and poppy electronics paired with live instruments and a plethora of field recordings and found sounds. Most of the songs sound like a one-off collaboration between Four Tet and Boards of Canada, with a couple guest appearances by The Books thrown in for good measure, which would be awesome in real life but in Snook's hands falls a bit off the mark. There is a definite problem with so closely emulating such established acts. Album centerpiece "Half Term (8:08)" sounds like a leftover from a Boards of Canada's album with its glitchy drums and meditative spoken word sample. It's a fine song, but it ultimately left me thinking that I should just throw on Music Has the Right to Children rather than Snook's reproduction. However, when Snook plays to his strengths and steps outside of these conventional sounds he is able to achieve something special. On "The Cross I'd Bear" he pulls out all of his tricks from found recordings to cut up guitar lines, and then literally throws in all the bells and whistles creating a bouncy song that is a joy to listen to. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough songs such as this on the album. There are definitely hints of something more inspired peppered throughout The Nutty Tree — the dark and moody piano piece "The Two Knives (Cuckoo's Reprise)" or the jazzy rolling bass on "Lomograph," but these buds never get a chance to fully bloom. Overall, it just leaves you wanting more or remembering other artists that have already done it better. - Loyola Phoenix |
