Irish artist Garrett Anthony Rice moves from introspective folk to expansive chamber-pop grandeur on the stellar “As Magic As The Snow,” a Christmas-season song that traces a young boy’s return to a cherished sledding hill after the sudden loss of his best friend. Recorded at Dublin’s Darklands Studio with producer Dan Doherty, the arrangement marks a first for Rice in incorporating live brass and orchestral musicians, lending the poignant narrative an expansive musical setting.
Melodic acoustic strums and warming lyrical recollections commence the track, as Rice’s vocals reminisce on “meeting you, with coal bags on our favorite hill.” The scene-setting of two friends relishing the winter weather and sledding together is bolstered by comforting waves of guitar distortion and brassy playfulness. “Let go, sleigh in tow, you and me both,” Rice’s vocals continue during more trickling guitar presence, then bolstered by heartrending strings as the “spill from red eyes and disappear” line emerges — showing amongst the first glimpses of heartbreak and trauma following the loss of a best friend, who they had shared fond memories with.
The subsequent “here it comes” chorus is fantastic in its enthused vocal enhancement and symphonic allure, seamlessly melding triumphant brass and stirring strings amidst Rice’s magnetic vocal presence. Multiple string layers delight in the next section, as the vocals emit a resonant “as magic as the snow” refrain. Past the five-minute turn, the vocal work and strings combine for a sound fondly reminiscent of The Go-Betweens, with Rice’s vocals emitting with insightful allure that “you never know when your garden may froze, hold yours close.” A carpe-diem thematic hold, and clear adoration for loved ones, is beautifully conveyed within a striking Christmas-time chamber-pop emotionality throughout the excellent “As Magic As The Snow.”
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
