18.03.2010

Elva Snow

"Oh honey.... I am too old to rock out these days. I need a chair and a lot less noise. Yes, I'm an old woman..."

… that’s what you hear from Scott Matthew when asked for the possibilities of a tour with the band project Elva Snow, now in the tenth year of its existence and finally facing the worldwide release of their self-titled debut album.

In the beginning of 1999, Spencer Cobrin and Scott Matthew met in New York. Scott, by then a young Australian ex-pat who wanted to experience the life and culture of a mega city like the Big Apple, and Spencer got introduced to each other by a mutual friend and immediately realised they should do something with each other. It was on the second occasion they met, when Spencer gave Scott a tape of music he had written recently. A couple of days later Scott had written lyrics to each of the songs, which Spencer loved straight away and so Elva Snow was born. 

Elva Snow yesterday ...

By then Spencer Cobrin had already his share of success in pop music, being the backbone of Morrissey’s band for eight years and to many Morrissey fans he remains „the best drummer Morrissey ever played with“. Spencer’s drumming can be heard on a string of Morrissey’s best albums, starting with the wonderful “Your Arsenal” and ending five releases later with 1997’s “Maladjusted”. By then his influence has grown, and he was a frequent songwriting collaborator for the Maestro, as credited in the Cobrin-co-written classics “Lost” or “Wide To Receive”. But after endless touring and a very busy recording schedule, Spencer needed a break and decided to quit Morrissey’s band in order to concentrate on his own work. 

the band video

Scott Matthew worked quietly on his own songwriting skills, and apart from the fact that he already was regarded as “New York’s best hidden treasure” by the local scenesters, he had his breakthrough when three of his songs (and a cameo as a musician) were part of John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus” soundtrack in 2006. This appearance subsequently lead to the release of his self-titled debut album on Glitterhouse Records, which received enormous praise by critics all around the world. His 2009 follow-up album, “There’s An Ocean That Divides….“, again released by Glitterhouse Records, was elevated to „album of the month“ in several publications around Europe and Australia. The universal praise finally lead to an invitation to the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival, where Scott and his band outplayed Antony & The Johnsons, while Spencer was becoming a highly regarded score-writer for numerous films, the critically acclaimed “Send In The Clowns” amongst others. 

experimental video

Now expectations might be enormous, when it comes to a collaboration of such heavyweights of their own, but Elva Snow prove to be more than just able to cope with that: Their punchy, yet groovy, yet dreamy pop draws from all their own strengths and experiences as well as from what was great in the last four decades of pop music without losing a very own identity. You may hear hints of classic Roxy Music, “Space Oddtity”-era David Bowie plus Suede, Mazzy Star or even Marc Almond. But regardless all that, Elva Snow create their very own music universe, emotional, intense, but at the same time groovy and punchy, as can be heard on the single “Could Ya”.

After listening to this long-awaited debut, we can only hope that Scott revises his decision about touring with Elva Snow….

the album ist out now on Glitterhouse Records

...Elva Snow (Scott Matthew & Spencer Cobrin) today

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