Snowgoose

Anna Sheard and Jim McCulloch return with their third album, Descendant, which sees the pair expand their sound and delve deeper into their world of emotion and melody.

In the creative pastures of Glasgow’s music scene, Snowgoose stands as a beacon, helmed by the nuanced artistry of Jim McCulloch and Anna Sheard. McCulloch, with his illustrious stints with The Soup Dragons, Isobel Campbell and BMX Bandits, alongside Sheard’s compelling vocal palette, carve out a niche that feels both warmly retrospective and boldly new. In October 2024, Snowgoose released their third album, Descendant inviting listeners into their place where the complexities of human emotion are laid bare against a backdrop of melodic beauty.

   Anna describes the album: Descendant explores the delicate interplay between the joys of love and the inevitability of loss. Each song navigates the complex emotions that connect these experiences, serving as a reflection on the beauty and pain of impermanence."

   Descendant is crafted with their exquisite blend of folk and psych. Featuring the guitar of Raymond McGinley (Teenage Fanclub) the keys of Chris Geddes (Belle and Sebastian), the bass of Stevie Jones (Arab Strap), the pedal steel of Tim Davidson (Tracyanne & Danny), and the drums of Stuart Kidd (BMX Bandits) and Adam Stearns (Trembling Bells), this album is a testament to the collaborative spirit of Scottish indie royalty.

Descendant


Better Listen
Salix
The Fall
Down The Line
Good Medicine
Sorrow
Bewildered Dance
Fugue State
Call For Peace
Descendant
Wings of Glory

All songs written by McCulloch / Sheard
Recorded by Paul Savage at Chem 19, Blantyre
Mixed and Mastered by Raymond McGinley
Design by Pascal Blua
Original Screenprint by Anna Sheard

Released 18 October 2024

VIO-080

Better Listen


I lie awake reflecting on you
Facing mistakes for those I’m not proud
Better listen, better listen

Can’t turn the page re-write or re-sign
Reeling the weight of our last goodbye
Better listen, better listen

Whatever it takes I’ll brace your fall
How my heart aches I
’ll await your call
I’m willing to listen

You speak your truths
I’ll stay true to mine
Searching for something lost to the noise
Better listen, better listen

Whatever it takes
I’ll brace your fall
How my heart aches I’ll await your call
I’m willing to listen.

Better listen, better listen

Everywhere I turn
Laced in hope concern
Race to get there first
Emerald and gold
Grateful for our love
Gotta take it slow
Work on letting go
Let the good times roll

Better listen

Descendant


In the end
We all return to matter
To ground from which we started
To dust from which we’ve grown

Letting go
Depends on where your mind is
The state of human kindness
Such little time who knows

Change of the season
I’m lost for good reason
Going out of my mind
It’s consuming my time

Searching for answers
Only answered with questions
Going out of my mind
Consuming my time

You define
Your loves your hates impartiales
Alone you pick your battles
Whose shouldering the fall

Out of line
Depends on what your view is
Perspective you have chosen
Judgement you have made

Change of the season
Emotion for a reason
Going out of my mind
It’s consuming my time

Searching for answers
Only answered with questions
Going out of my mind
It’s consuming my time

Change of the season
I’m lost for good reason
Going out of my mind
It’s consuming my time
Searching for answers
Only answered with questions
Going out of my mind
Consuming my time

Selected Press Reviews

  • The album explores complex emotions and human fragility with spare vocals set to an evocative musical tapestry. It's an intrinsically delicate take on pain, sorrow and loss.

    RNR MAGAZINE

  • Snowgoose are the sublime collaboration between Soup Dragons/BMX Bandits guitarist Jim McCulloch and Anna Sheard, an entrancing vocalist who combines California breeziness with English psych folk qualities.

    THE SCOTSMAN

  • Sheard's singing is beautifully pitched and nuanced throughout this engrossing eleven-track album

    LOUDER THAN WAR

  • ...an album that blends Pentangle's limber folk-funk with the crystalline guitar pop of 10,000 Maniacs.

    UNCUT

  • Soothing and unsettling.... imagery-laden lyrics are delivered with purity and precision over psychedelic organ and polite percussion.

    THE SUNDAY TIMES

  • …sees old Soup Dragon Jim McCulloch, plus other Glasgow indie glitterati from Teenage Fanclub and Belle and Sebastian, doing a Pentangle. The occasional bossa nova flourishes are lovely, as is the easy-on-the-ear Anna Sheard

    THE GUARDIAN

  • ...a sprinkling of Glasgow indie glitterati, roped in by former Soup Dragon Jim McCulloch to bring widescreen colour to his and Sheard's faintly Pentangular, Fairport-y songs, make this a spellbinding listen

    UNCUT

  • ...a confident, stately affair, a mix of British folk-rock and Laurel Canyon jazz-infused folk, its charms subtle but enduring. Sheard's vocals warrant comparison with those of Sandy Denny, pure-voiced, bell-like and the perfect instrument to carry each song's theme.

    SHINDIG!

  • Snowgoose are effortless fusioneers, operating at the mellow crossroads of psych folk and indie pop. Vocalist Anna Sheard's pure voice invokes the spirit of Sandy Denny, a soothing instrument no matter what sorrow she is imparting

    THE SCOTSMAN