While we’re all eagerly awaiting the forthcoming new album from RVA shoegazers The Snowy Owls, no new songs have been forthcoming just yet. Therefore, this new video for their song from last year’s split with Hoax Hunters, “Kerfuffle,” will have to tide us all over while we wait.
While we’re all eagerly awaiting the forthcoming new album from RVA shoegazers The Snowy Owls, no new songs have been forthcoming just yet. Therefore, this new video for their song from last year’s split with Hoax Hunters, “Kerfuffle,” will have to tide us all over while we wait. Shot at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery during the Good Day In RVA festival last weekend by PJ Sykes, this black and white video consists of slowed-down footage from the Snowy Owls set, mixed the occasional sped-up or even what look like backwards clips. The camera lingers just as often on the stage dressing, which featured mannequin torsos, piles of flower petals, and of course, barrels full of beer.
“Kerfuffle” has a classic American shoegaze sound–gorgeous, languidly crooned vocal melodies over loud, hazy guitars. It reflects influence from bands like The Lilys, Drop Nineteens, and The Swirlies, though for those whose experience with shoegaze begins and ends with UK bands on Creation Records, it’d probably make more sense if I mentioned Ride. Either comparison will do–and yes, Snowy Owls are able to equal the quality of those bands’ classic tunes, with a modern twist to bring it up-to-date for 2014.
The original edition of the Snowy Owls/Hoax Hunters split was a “bronze smoke”-colored, square, lathe-cut vinyl 7 inch, which came out in a limited edition of 50 or so for Record Store Day 2013. Physical copies of it are long, long gone, so forget about it, but fortunately, Cherub Records still has the three songs (this Snowy Owls track, plus two Hoax Hunters tunes) available for purchase on Bandcamp for only $2, so go grab those from their Bandcamp page. The Snowy Owls’ next gig will be in Virginia Beach at the Logstradamus surf competition on June 14, which should be a pretty perfect way to spend the last weekend before the official start of summer! For more info, click here.
By Andrew Necci; photos by Joey Wharton
