Snowblink shows their unwavering strength on their new album “Inner Classics”

By: Laura Stanley –

Signing to the illustrious Canadian record label Arts & Crafts earlier this year, Toronto-based duo Snowblink  are back with their sophomore album, Inner Classics. Filled with a similar lush folk sound and beautiful harmonies that made their debut album Long Live so appealing, Inner Classics will be what you turn to as you try and grasp on to the last feelings of summer.

After moving from the band’s former home-base of California, this album marks Daniela Gusundheit’s, one half of Snowblink, first work since living in Canada. Despite the change of scenery, Gesundheit brings with her the California sun to most of the lyrics but most apparent, the instrumental arrangements.

“Pray For Surf” begins the album with the shimmery vocals of Gusundheit with additional vocals from Dan Goldman, the second half of Snowblink, which pop up on occasion, and all paired with an almost indie-pop guitar accompaniment. Faster than its predecessor, the following song “Unsurfed Waves” includes a similar surf-pop sound and vocal combination that oozes with a unique warmth.

With a slow and lulling pace as the tone for most of the song, “Safety Stories” has a subtle charm to it. The hearty vocals of Misha Bower, Bruce Peninsula, clearly heard and beautifully contrasting the sweet tone of Gusundheit’s voice, cause a vocal pairing knockout, making “Safety Stories” a song that will not go unnoticed.

In just nine songs, Inner Classics is on the shorter side but its size in no way makes it feel incomplete. Fuller and longer songs make up the majority of the album, a change for the mini instrumental songs that were scattered throughout Long Live. In a more instrumentally centred song, a rare quality in the new album, “Goodbye Eyes” features a lone verse at the end of a lyrically sparse song but even so, Snowblink can successfully create a mood, in this case melancholic, with ease and beauty.

As Inner Classics winds down, “Bounty” is folky sweetness, Gusundheit sings, “Isn’t our love just like an equator, hot it in the spring, hot in the autumn,” and, with a similar tone to Long Live, “Buttons” finishes the album on a familiar note.

In their second album, Inner Classics shows that Snowblink’s light and distinct take on folk and pop music continues to sound glorious.