Gilles Snowcat 2024
Belgian lounger generates spirituality as a benefit of blissful inebriation.
When it comes to relaxing in style yet with a twist, this artist must be your go-to person. The Brussels sybarite has been blending sonic-tonic cocktails for some time now, what with 2015’s "Nama Time!" extolling the virtues of liquor as a companion piece to legs and 2020’s "You've Been Unboxing Gilles Snowcat" offering for the first, but not for the last, time a sip of limoncello. So there’s no surprise that his subsequent singles stock more of similar drinks, although his ability to uncork additional meanings of the word “spirit” as underlying aspects of any pleasant pastime is surprising indeed. Once glimpsed on "Mardi Gras Station" a few years ago, those semantic surprises reach their apex here.
Transcendental as it is, the languidly meandering “Tiny Little Ice Cubes” does not demonstrate metaphysical concepts too overtly, preferring instead to mesmerize the listener by sexy beats which help Gilles and Adriana Dath’s relaxed vocals navigate reggae groove and shimmering synthesizers. However, Monsieur Snowcat’s piano-driven take on EARTH, WIND & FIRE’s “Welcome / Faith” feels almost breathtakingly soulful, revealing the previously concealed, and well-orchestrated, depth of his craft – and his voice, too. Perhaps, that’s where the auteur should go more often, because that’s where the genuine goodness and grandeur of any good time lie.
****1/2