Recording with SNOWMINE

When Snowmine visited Philadelphia to record a song for Shaking Through, we were amazed by the ease of the session, which was derived, no doubt, from the incredible musicianship of each band member. And with an assortment of found-sounds at our fingertips -- including Chinese lanterns, sink brushes, and brooms -- we were up for the challenge of helping Snowmine construct the surreal world that their song "Curfews" lives in.

Snowmine, a Brooklyn-based five-piece, is keyboardist Grayson Sanders, guitarists Calvin Pia and Austin Mendenhall, bassist Jay Goodman, and drummer Alex Beckmann. The band's lush indie-pop songs are generated largely by Sanders, who recently turned his attention from composing in the New York classical music scene to become the principle singer and songwriter for the group.

For the session, Snowmine chose to record the song "Curfews." Sanders said: "It's a song about being a slave to your work. The first line is: I might not earn it but its what I deserve [...] It's the relationship you have being validated by your work, which I think a lot of artists experience."

Snowmine record "Curfews" over a weekend recording session at Philadelphia's Miner Street Recordings in October 2011. The track was produced using boutique recording equipment provided for Shaking Through by AEA, Studio Logic Sound and TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik.

Session curator Mark Schoneveld of YVYNYL said: "I booked them for a show in Philly a while back, and I was blown away ... A lot of times in modern music, people hide behind a lot of production. These people are ready to put themselves out there, lay on the line."

"What Weathervane is doing is a prototype for the music industry," said bassist Jay Goodman. "Artists are struggling day in day out to survive, to eat, to make their art. To have this opportunity to be able to record in a beautiful studio and make this video and share it with the world is such a beautiful, beautiful experience."

After you check out the session material, be sure to stop by Snowmine's bandcamp site. There you can check out their recent full-length, Laminate Pet Animal, which was featured as Album of the Week on Bandcamp in November 2011.