Natural Snow Buildings is a duo from France, consisting of artists Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte. They play music which can be classified as experimental
psychedelic folk
Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music, psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical el ...
with
drone
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
elements and
ambient influences.
Formed in 1998, they have released numerous albums, many of them in extremely limited quantities.
Both members of Natural Snow Buildings release music also as solo artists: Mehdi Ameziane as TwinSisterMoon and Solange Gularte as Isengrind.
History
The beginnings of Natural Snow Buildings can be traced back to 1997, at a Paris university. They met in their school library where a film was playing.
Mehdi had been invited to a party that evening but declined and headed to the library instead. After their first meeting, the two saw more of each other. Although Mehdi could play a bit of guitar and Solange was a classically trained musician, the two had not yet begun making music.
It was in May 1998 that the two officially started their band and began home recording their music. They self-released two cassettes, ''Witch-Season'' and ''Two Sides of a Horse'' in 1999 and 2000, and in 2001 recorded ''Ghost Folks'', released in 2003. Then, they self-released a double CD, ''The Winter Ray'', in a limited edition, and, after moving from Paris to
Vitré,
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
in 2004, recorded ''The Dance of the Moon and the Sun'' (released in 2006). They then each issued solo material before producing more material as a duo.
Most of their albums have only been released in small numbers, often in hand-crafted limited editions. However, since 2012 they have released several records on prominent
independent labels such as
Ba Da Bing Records
Ba Da Bing Records is an American record label based in Brooklyn, New York. The name is derived from the saying "ba da bing, ba da boom", common among Italian-Americans, especially in New Jersey.
The label was founded in Leonia, New Jersey in 1 ...
, which has also reissued some of their earlier recordings, including ''Night Coercion Into the Company of Witches'' and the Isengrind/Twinsistermoon/Natural Snow Buildings split ''The Snowbringer Cult''. Their work has been compared with such bands as
Popol Vuh
''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and ...
,
Flying Saucer Attack
Flying Saucer Attack is an English space rock band formed in Bristol in 1992, led by songwriter David Pearce. Rachel Brook (now Rachel Coe) of Movietone was a member during the band's early incarnation; other musicians contributing to the gro ...
, and Tower Recordings. They make many references to the
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
genre in their song titles; for example ''
Santa Sangre
''Santa Sangre'' ( en, Holy Blood, italic=yes) is a 1989 avant-garde surreal horror film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky and written by Jodorowsky along with Claudio Argento and Roberto Leoni. It stars Axel Jodorowsky, Adán Jodorowsky, Teo ...
'' (with the track "Santa Sangre Part I & II" on ''Daughter of Darkness''), ''
The Blair Witch Project
''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Josh ...
'' (The track "Mary Brown" on ''Dance of the Moon and the Sun'' is a reference to a character from this film) and director
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
(a track on ''Dance of the Moon and the Sun'').
Discography - Natural Snow Buildings
Albums
*2003 - ''Ghost Folks''
*2004 - ''The Winter Ray''
*2006 - ''The Dance of the Moon and the Sun''
*2008 - ''Between The Real And The Shadow''
*2008 - ''Norns''
*2008 - ''Sung To The North''
*2008 - ''The Snowbringer Cult'' (CD2)
*2008 - ''Laurie Bird''
*2008 - ''Slayer of the King of Hell''
*2008 - ''The Wheel of Sharp Daggers''
*2008 - ''Night Coercion Into the Company of Witches''
*2008 - ''Sunlit Stone'' (released with a special edition of re-issued ''The Dance of the Moon and the Sun'')
*2009 - ''Daughter of Darkness''
*2009 - ''Daughter of Darkness V''
*2009 - ''Shadow Kingdom''
*2010 - ''The Centauri Agent''
*2011 - ''Waves of the Random Sea''
*2011 - ''Chants of Niflheim''
*2012 - ''Beyond the Veil''
*2013 - ''The Snowbringer Cult''
*2014 - ''The Night Country''
*2014 - ''Live At Cragg Vale''
*2015 - ''Terror's Horns''
*2015 - ''The Ladder'' (released as a bonus CD with a special pre-order edition of ''Terror's Horns'')
*2016 - ''Aldebaran''
EPs
*2008 - ''The Moonraiser''
*2008 - ''The Sundowner''
Compilations
*2008 - ''I Dream of Drone'' (5CDr box set, only one copy produced & given free to a friend of the band: Jed B)
*2008 - ''Tracks on the Bloody Snow'' (CDr, 2 known versions: one with brown sleeve, one with red. Compilation of early recordings 1998/1999)
Demos
*1999 - ''Witch-Season''
*2000 - ''Two Sides of a Horse''
Discography - solo
TwinSisterMoon
Albums
*2007 - ''When Stars Glide Through Solid''
*2007 - ''Levels and Crossings''
*2008 - ''The Snowbringer Cult'' (Tracks 9–16 on CD1)
*2009 - ''The Hollow Mountain''
*2010 - ''Then Fell The Ashes''
*2012 - ''Bogyrealm Vessels''
EPs
*2008 - ''Rivers of Blood Ending in the Sun''
*2009 - ''Bride of the Spirits''
Isengrind
Albums
*2007 - ''Golestân''
*2008 - ''The Snowbringer Cult'' (Tracks 1–8 on CD1)
*2009 - ''Journey of the Seven Stars''
*2010 - ''Modlitewnik''
*2012 - ''Night of Raining Fire''
*2014 - ''Underflesh''
References
{{Authority control
French experimental music groups
Musical groups established in 1998
Drone music groups
Male–female musical duos