The Snare (album)

2002 studio album by Looper

The Snare

Studio album by

Looper

Released| 2002
Label| Mute[1]
Producer| Peacock Johnson
Looper chronology
| The Geometrid
(2000)  | The Snare
(2002)  | Offgrid:Offline
(2015)

|
|

The Snare is the third album by the Scottish band Looper, released in 2002.[2][3] Frontman Stuart David adopted the persona of Peacock Johnson.[4]

## Production

[edit]

The album shares themes and characters with David's novel The Peacock Manifesto.[5] "This Evil Love" is about romantic obsession.[6] The music shifted from the dance styles of the first two albums to include downbeat and trip hop elements.[7]

## Critical reception

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Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [8]
The Gazette| [9]
Pitchfork| 6.1/10[10]
Winnipeg Sun| [7]

Pitchfork wrote: "Easy to dismiss, smirk at, or even hate on the fist listen, nine out of The Snare's ten tracks are grind-and-pause, semi-sultry pairings of exotic keyboard settings and mid-tech beats that exploit their refrains and come weirdly close to the patterns of 'risqué' after-dinner radio pop circa 1999-present."[10] Exclaim! determined that "as an isolated album it comes across as little more than sub-par art pop whose tunes are monotonous and whose lyrics are obtuse."[5] The Gazette considered it "a dark, brooding work which holds together well, but struggles to free itself from its own weight."[9]

The Sunday Herald deemed the album "10 menacing murder ballads, all characterised by ... dulcimer, baritone sax burps and tinkly music-box noises, backed by a Casio-keyboard approximation of the stuttering beats of modern R&B."[11] The Northern Echo called it "a black masterpiece."[12] The Philadelphia Daily News labeled it "a mysterious soundtrack of the mind with R&B, hip-hop and spaghetti western inflections."[13]

AllMusic wrote that "Looper drops their bright playfulness for a sophisticated, darker counterpart which uses jazz, R&B, and trip-hop as its foundation."[8]

## Track listing

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No.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "The Snare"|
2.| "Sugarcane"|
3.| "New York Snow"|
4.| "Peacock Johnson"|
5.| "Driving Myself Crazy"|
6.| "Lover's Leap"|
7.| "Good Girls"|
8.| "She's a Knife"|
9.| "This Evil Love"|
10.| "Fucking Around"|

## References

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1. ^ "Caring for Looper". CMJ New Music Report. 71 (766): 42. Jun 10, 2002.
2. ^ "Looper Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
3. ^ "Looper: The Snare". The A.V. Club. 25 June 2002. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
4. ^ Shepherd, Fiona (21 June 2002). "New Releases". The Scotsman. p. 14.
5. ^ a b "Looper The Snare | Exclaim!". exclaim.ca. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
6. ^ Niesel, Jeff (June 13, 2002). "Looper 'The Snare'". Entertainment. The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. 22.
7. ^ a b Sterdan, Darryl (July 12, 2002). "Looper THE SNARE". Entertainment. Winnipeg Sun. p. 24.
8. ^ a b "Looper - The Snare Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15 - via www.allmusic.com.
9. ^ a b Dunlevy, T'Cha (27 June 2002). "LOOPER The Snare". The Gazette. Montreal. p. D4.
10. ^ a b "Looper: The Snare". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
11. ^ Virtue, Graeme (26 May 2002). "Sax and violence". Sunday Herald. p. 14.
12. ^ Lloyd, Chris (30 May 2002). "Simply the N-E best". The Northern Echo. p. 4.
13. ^ Takiff, Jonathan (18 June 2002). "FUSED-OUT". Features. Philadelphia Daily News. p. 33.

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

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*[No.]: Number