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Snow Stories (2012)

Freia Music

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About the album

Written, recorded and produced in two weeks time (Nov - Dec 2012), SNOW STORIES captures the spirit of the Christmas season in many ways. This progressive rock album features a lot of colorful arrangements with instruments like church organ, grand piano, harpsichord, violin, cello, glockenspiel etc. The album contains 9 original compositions, both extensive prog-rock songs as well as accessible and more simple tunes. Each song has a characteristic atmosphere and tone, to go with the different moods of Christmas.

First I had the idea to make a digital Christmas-EP, to be released online. Than the project grew to become a digital album release. Eventually it grew even more and became a last-minute physical CD release, also featuring some very talented guest musicians on cello, violin en lead guitars.
Initially I knew I had approx. 3-4 weeks to get it done in time, in order to present it online before Christmas would be over. But when FREIA Music jumped on, it also meant the deadline was now 2 (!!) weeks earlier, more or less. The cover artwork even had to be finished in literally no-time.
So I had to shift gears and sacrifice a lot of hours of sleep. But miraculously we made all the deadlines and were able to finish the whole thing in time. Because there was so little time, I had to invent a most of the lyrics and melodies on the spot, and the whole process became quite spontaneous. This in contrast to previous albums, in which I put a lot of thought before even recording the first bits. And you can hear that.
I wanted to stay away from the well-known Christmas cliché's (red-nosed Rudolf, Coca Cola, or even Santa) and focus more on the aspect that make us appreciate Christmas in essence, what it means to us on a more fundamental level. But also, what it means for lonely people, old people, sad people.. So it won't be sleigh bells and "ho ho ho" all the way." - Christiaan Bruin

Reviews

"Once you look closely you comprehend its true beauty." - popunie.nl
"A lasting ice crystal in the ever growing oeuvre of Chris." - progwereld.org