The women-led col­lec­tive Snowap­ple has been on cre­ative over­drive this year, now releas­ing an album and film project called A Moon­less Night. Inter­na­tion­al in mem­bers and in out­look, Snowap­ple has been togeth­er since 2013, with a pro­lif­ic out­put that has seen them involved with a mul­ti­tude of projects: move­ment, the­atre, mime, pup­petry, music, singing, poet­ry, visu­al art and film. The col­lec­tive is based in Ams­ter­dam, Paris and Mex­i­co City, where they host art res­i­den­cies, fes­ti­vals and events. Snowap­ple embod­ies female empow­er­ment in all lay­ers of its organ­i­sa­tion and productions.

To accom­pa­ny the new album is a 60-minute film, A Moon­less Night, that com­bines object ani­ma­tion, mime, and a host of music styles. 

The album of A Moon­less Night which was released on 4th Octo­ber, tells the tale of a dra­ma-filled and atmos­pher­ic jour­ney. The cen­tral premise is a fas­ci­na­tion with the moon, that sym­bol of the female, so apt for this par­tic­u­lar col­lec­tive. And night time, when our dreams, night­mares and the time for emo­tions to unleash them­selves, is ripe for explo­ration in this tale of human and folklore.

The pre­lude and its mem­o­rable words, “I remem­ber… I remem­ber watch­ing the moon with him. Every­thing goes white, every­thing goes white” sows the seeds of what is to unfold, these are words loaded with ten­sion. We enter the fol­low­ing track You’re Mine and this is where we real­ly start to go deep into the nar­ra­tive. Sung and writ­ten by Lau­rien ‘SHE’ Snowap­ple, it is loose­ly based on the Mex­i­can song Luz de Luna by Álvaro Genaro Car­ril­lo Alar­cón and is a heady con­coc­tion with its gyp­sy vio­lin flour­ish­es and roman­tic feel.

Fol­low­ing track The Child is a per­son­al high­light with its trib­al drum­beat over­laid with a lush choral mix, its rich, lay­ered qual­i­ty has a slight­ly dis­ori­en­tat­ing qual­i­ty that adds to the unfold­ing nar­ra­tive. This is echoed on a lat­er track, The Dark­ness – a seduc­tive num­ber that lulls you into a med­i­ta­tive state while the ten­sion of the nar­ra­tive builds.

It’s that rich­ness of instru­men­ta­tion and min­gling of gen­res that leaves a last­ing impres­sion. Such as on I Lie All the Time which brings in jazz and rap to cre­ate some­thing that feels fresh, orig­i­nal and just a lit­tle quirky. While the clar­inet and flute add a mes­meris­ing and com­fort­ing touch to Morn­ing Will Always Come, as the dra­ma of the night recedes.

The album launch at The Slaugh­tered Lamb revealed Snowap­ple’s artistry and inven­tive­ness, as both mem­bers and guest musi­cians per­formed a selec­tion of num­bers from A Moon­less Night. The fin­er details of the cos­tumes (Lau­rien SHE Snowap­ple’s bil­low­ing out­fits were cap­ti­vat­ing) and light­ing were painstak­ing­ly thought through for dra­mat­ic effect. Pho­tos of the launch are below:

See and Hear A Moon­light Night:
Film Screen­ing – Bris­tol Fringe – Wednes­day 9^th Octo­ber
Film Pre­mier – Rich Mix, Lon­don – Thurs­day 10^th Octo­ber
Album launch – Slaugh­tered Lamb, Lon­don – Sat­ur­day 12^th October – 

The album A Moon­less Night fea­tures songs from the film. Released on stream­ing plat­forms and a lim­it­ed-edi­tion vinyl, which fea­tures bonus tracks, poet­ry and beau­ti­ful art­work
Snowap­ple website