“Haunting, evocative and atmospheric, to say that Snowdon’s vocal and compositional artistry is unique is overly simplistic.“
Kate Stratford
4 potent moments
At the age of 17, Tom Snowdon began experimenting with his voice, testing its scope not only in the family home, but in the vastness of Mparntwe/Alice Springs country. The resulting voice ranges from baritone to tenor with an ability to hit counter-tenor notes for moments of even more emotional depth. His vocals ebb and flow across a genre-defying style, not dissimilar to the work of British singer James Blake – if you are looking for an unhelpful slot. In the music industry, Snowdon is considered “one of the best we have”.
Snowdon presents, for your aural pleasure, both covers and original music. The covers are songs for which he has an affinity; there are moments of Men at Work and Elvis and Bjork and even Kylie and Britney Spears. But Snowdon makes them completely his. Who Can It Be Now was a haunting rendition replete with a sense of loneliness not so evident in the original.
The work is threaded with a sense of moving through Mparntwe country. One song in particular (forgive my forgetting the title) reminded the +1 and me of hours driving in the country with the window down and whomp-whomp sound of air rushing in the car window. There is something of the isolation and vastness of the outback which threads through all of Snowdon’s work, whether it be original or cover. Not surprising, given a childhood exposure to 80’s rock, the country music of Jimmy Little and indigenous music.
Haunting, evocative and atmospheric, to say that Snowdon’s vocal and compositional artistry is unique is overly simplistic. It is very much “late-night music”. A glass of your favourite whatever, the lights low and your feet up.
(He would be a great find for indy film makers looking for that soundtrack …)
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
