Album Review: Snow Ghosts, The Fell

The follow-up to the British trio’s 2019 album A Quiet Ritual builds on the intensity of exploring folklore, mythology and nature with cinematic results.

Snow Ghosts, the folk-orientated venture of Hannah Cartwright, Ross Tones, and Oliver Knowles, capture a foreboding atmosphere throughout The Fell, which was partially inspired by the notion of a liminal space, like a preservatory bogland. The chance to completely immerse themselves in another world, its history and perception, led to a concept project brimming with intoxicating sonics.

12 unpredictable tracks see unnerving yet immensely creative selections of noise. ‘Curse’ is like the sizzling of electrocution mingled with a welding blowtorch, while ‘Buried’ shows off Cartwright’s hypnotic vocals and haunting strings section. The Fell’s instrumental arsenal features esraj, dulcimer, daf and bodhrán drums, violin, guitars, and a variety of synthesisers, as illustrated beautifully on ‘Home’.

“You pulled down the world on top of us,” Hannah sings on the ethereal final track ‘Taken’. The subject’s grief could easily be applied to environmental destruction and animal loss. Overall, The Fell proves a stunning fourth offering that harnesses the wild and desolate.

Listen: ‘Buried’
Score: 7/10

Out now via Houndstooth