Snow Palms

★★★ Land Waves VILLAGE GREEN. CD/DL/LP

Sparkling expeditions into the sensual.

‘Kojo Yakei’ is leisure activity in Japan, translating as “factory night view”: after-dark sightseers marvel at the lights of glistening factories, refineries and such. On Snow Palms’ third LP, Kojo Yakei is a composition grounded in Philip Glass and Terry Riley as a wordless chorale wafts like smokestack vapours. It could complement a coach gliding past a smelting plant. While analogous musically, each of Land Waves’ seven tracks takes a different journey: Atom Dance and Evening Rain Gardens soundtrack sensory experiences. Snow Palms was previously the solo vehicle of author and MOJO contributor David Sheppard, now joined by Matt Gooderson and, contributing intermittent vocals, the latter’s partner Megan. Meshing electronics with clarinet, glockenspiels and marimbas,

Land Waves is a warm, human take on what might be clinical.