{"title":"Soft as Snow","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"glass-body-remixed","title":"Glass Body Remixed","description":"\u003cp\u003eNorwegian duo Soft As Snow return to Houndstooth with 'Glass Body Remixed', a collection of reworks that engage with their futuristic, experimental electronic pop. Italian techno impresario Lucy (of Stroboscopic Artefacts) drives 'Halo Heart' straight to the dancefloor, while Gang Gang Dance's Brian DeGraw capitalizes on the tripped out, weirdo aspects of the duo's distinctively synth-based sound, crafting a bouncy, wholly new approach to 'All Our Beasts'. Side B finds Factory Floor's Gabe Gurnsey giving 'Glass Body' a 7-minute acid house rework, before Estonia's Maria Minerva steps in to loop and elevate the vocals on 'Black Birds' and bring the EP in full circle straight back to its experimental pop roots. 'Glass Body Remixed' is cut to heavyweight 180 gram 12\" vinyl by Matt Colton.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Houndstooth","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50492447261003,"sku":"381596","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/11c4b0b9-ce17-43e9-a477-55a7bd577be3_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727692166"},{"product_id":"deep-wave","title":"Deep Wave","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Norwegian-born, Berlin-based duo Soft as Snow release their debut album \u003ci\u003eDeep Wave\u003c\/i\u003e. It was created by Soft as Snow members Oda Egjar Starheim and Oystein Monsen, with additional mixing and production by Wife of Tri Angle Records. Their oblique leftfield pop recalls Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, deep Detroit techno, 90s IDM, Fever Ray, cold wave and the ‘Mutazione’ compilations, but is simultaneously fresh, original and groundbreaking, crowned with Oda’s esoteric and otherworldly voice. \u003ci\u003eDeep Wave\u003c\/i\u003e follows two EPs - and as with those, the duo still avoid laptops, preferring analogue machinery, samplers, live drums and processed guitars - but this album marks a creative development, with their sound now deeper, more detailed and less simplistic than before. Soft as Snow’s singular sound can in part be attributed to Oda’s background in performance art, (which brings a raw intuitive approach to vocals) and to Oystein’s drumming for various noise rock bands in Oslo’s underground scene (which explains their abrasive, rhythmic energy). Soft as Snow are two people making music with little acknowledgement for conventions of the outside world and \u003ci\u003eDeep Wave\u003c\/i\u003e gives a peek into the sound-environment they’ve created. It’s genuinely original music, governed by its own unconventional logic, language and creatively free sense of play that’s simultaneously childlike, fun, harrowing, angular and dark.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Houndstooth","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50497634140491,"sku":"1029577","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/0492d6e8-936c-4563-ac77-7bd2c934777a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727729222"},{"product_id":"metalwet","title":"Metal.wet","description":"\u003cp\u003eUnbound by place or genre, mercurial, experimental pop duo Soft as Snow find freedom to intuitively reflect the disarray of human connection with their intricate, shape-shifting pop production. With each successive release, the duo evolves, unfurling into their own poetic sound, now fully realized on their intimate, third full-length, Metal.wet. The oft-present trappings of male-female duos are eschewed here as the Berlin-based Oda Starheim and Øystein Monsen contribute equally across a canvas of analogue synthesizers, samplers, live drums, and processed guitars. At once a part of and yet apart from the zeitgeist, their forward-thinking modernity stretches the limits of expectations across Metal.wet's ten insouciant tracks. Fans of Tirzah, Hype Williams, and even Angelo Badalamenti will find much to love in this haunting work peppered with ASMR moments and rough sampling wrapped in high production –– twinkling glasses and sirens in the distance, rhythms and voices up front. The result is synth-driven, noisy, and dripping with laidback, confident sensuality. Although Starheim's voice begins the album in a whisper, it quickly becomes apparent that the group has jettisoned their previous tendency to bury and distort her vocals. Nested in a bed of thorny electronics and broken rhythms, her multifaceted vocals might bring to mind Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead or Hope Sandoval fronting Massive Attack. London MC Brother May (Mica Levi, CURL) makes an appearance on the driving and ethereal “Whip,” while Øystein’s own voice appears for the first time in a state of languid background haze. Soft as Snow create and record across Europe. Defiantly averse to genre, the pair become vessels for their “electronic music pushed to the brink of collapse” (The Wire), previously released by Infinite Machine and Houndstooth. Informed by backgrounds in film and performance art, “there’s a surrealism that comes with watching Soft as Snow in the flesh,” (Vice) as seen at L.E.V. and Lunchmeat Festivals. Collaborations with visual artist Guynoid, designer AGF Hydra, and sculptor Camilla Steinum add depth to the corporeality of their “strange, mesmerising and utterly unforgettable” electronic experimentations. (DJ Mag).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Beacon Sound","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50908426928459,"sku":"2229142","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Soft_as_Snow_-_Metal.wet_f3a6a6ff_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1732903134"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/soft-as-snow.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}