Snõõper’s - ‘Super Snõõper’ review: a punk exploration of the world
Snõõper’s debut album, Super Snõõper, is a punk exploration of the world they see around them - a commentary on, and investigation of, the status quo.
“Powerball” is the main feature of Super Snõõper, their latest single/video. The video follows one of Snõõper’s puppets - a well-loved prop from their live shows that has since become an integral part of their performance - cooking himself a meal. The main course? A lotto ball. The shakily filmed video, hectic drumming and frenzied guitar let us know what we’re in for with Snõõper: a quick tempo, animated, playful world.
Super Snõõper opens with “Stretching”. The song is repeatedly interrupted, it is distorted into static and held at long pauses, before it eventually fades to the sound of a morse-code like beeping. This fragmented style and the muffled repetitive vocals set the album’s oppositional, experimental tone.
“Pod” identifies a motif continuously found within Western society - the numbing, desensitising effect of modern media - that the band later returns to in ‘Microbe’. Snõõper asks us to consider our relationship with television. While we may be suffering at its hands, we are not only victims but perpetrators too. “Who sees / that there in the reflection [...] Who sees / society’s infection?” Who sees themselves within the television screen and recognises their contribution to the social issue it represents? Are you allowing yourself to become desensitised?
“Pod” is followed by “Fitness”, a satirical commentary on the modern health and fitness subculture; its many contradictions, the frequent promotion of disordered eating, and its emphasis on physical appearance. This subculture is born out of a shared desire for perfection, one that Snooper hints at being unachievable: “juggernaut - weak spot”, even the inexorable juggernaut has a weak spot. The unfulfilling nature of fitness obsessions and the strive for perfection manifests in “Fitness” as abrupt interjections that sound like both a whistle blast and a high-pitched scream at once. These interruptions associate obsessive physical exercise with masked pain and illustrate a disconnect between “healthy” physical appearance and mental health.
Snooper takes issue with the surface level: from the fitness mindset that prioritises physical appearance above all else to shallow conversation. “Xerox” criticises the repetitiveness of small talk and rails against it with the high-energy playing and quick lyricism they are known for.
The last song of the album slows down their characteristic quick tempo and even runs to 5:22, their longest song. “Running” drives home the wider sentiment of their album with its sense of numb desperation. Snõõper resist their usual build, maintaining a steady rhythm that reflects the monotony of everyday life. The song encapsulates disassociation, the feeling of being mentally and emotionally distanced from your physical action or surroundings. Guitar riffs accent the lyricist’s mundane movements, “look up / stare at a cloud”, to represent distance between action and reaction, between event and emotional response.
Overall, Super Snõõper provides thought-provoking social commentary and satirical insights packaged in frantic drumming, quick-witted lyricism, and inventive guitar.
Stream Super Snõõper by Snõõper, out now via Third Man Records. Catch the Nashville-based DIY punk outfit this autumn on their first ever UK tour:
Sun. Nov. 5 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Mon. Nov. 6 - Glasgow, UK @ Hug & Pint
Tue. Nov. 7 - Manchester, UK @ YES Basement
Wed. Nov. 8 - London, UK @ The Windmill
Fri. Nov. 10 - London, UK @ Pitchfork Festival (Roadhouse)
Sat. Nov. 11 - Bristol, UK @ The Lanes
Watch the video for “Powerball”:
