Combining down tempo breaks, ethereal melodies, improvisation and live instrumentation, Snowman Plan’s tracks come across as subtle and relaxing at first, but are apt to veer off into a spontaneous crescendo at just the right time. Taking a cue from many other of today’s premier electronic composers such as Prefuse 73 and Manitoba, group founder Ian Obermuller spurned the traditional “man with a laptop” show and recruited drummer Eric Miller in order to help him recreate his compositions in a crowd-friendly manner. This fusion of the traditional with the cutting edge has allowed the duo to take Obermuller’s vision from the screen to the stage, and the result is a captivating, entrancing sonic palette. I talked with the Snowman Plan front man about the evolution and future plans of the new and promising group.
Can you give me some brief background info of how you got started?
I started Snowman Plan as a solo electronic project a few years ago, while I was also playing bass in some other bands. I made a few discs that I was happy with, but I never played any shows because I didn't think that it was a good enough stage presence to just have me sitting next to a computer. I like the energy of live musicians. So sometime last year, Eric offered to play drums and I played the bass parts, turning it into more of a “band” that could perform the songs.
How about a brief description of the live show?
My laptop plays all of the synths and noises or whatever else is in the song. Then, Eric and I play the bass and drums, which adds the rock element to the music that makes the live show more exciting. We mostly play as a duo but we have also played a show where we were accompanied by Artha, an experimental chamber quartet, and we want to do more things like that.
Can you give a quick description of your two records, and perhaps the motivation or inspiration behind them?
I have two CD-R albums which are both self-released and we are constantly working on new stuff.
The Moss Omnibus is a collection of electronic tunes that I made before I started writing songs that could be reproduced live. I had a dream where there were these tiny little people walking around inside a fish tank and I think that this CD is something along those lines.
The other album is French Impressionism, which is all covers of songs by the composers Debussey, Ravel, and Satie, but played Snowman Plan style with synths, drums, guitars, and other elements. It’s a weird experience to hear that kind of music played in a completely different context like that. It almost reminds me of old video game music sometimes.
When you say "Snowman Plan style", can you elaborate on what that is and what sound you're trying to achieve?
The main idea is to combine all of the elements I like from every style into one consistent sound without any genre-hopping. Each song is unique but they are always very melodic with pretty interesting rhythms. Sometimes mellow, sometimes really intense. One listener's description that I liked was "King Crimson meets Atari."
Any comments that you'd like to make regarding the Seattle electronic and/or music scene in general?
I haven't been a part of the electronic scene as much as I would like. All of our shows we've gotten have been 'rock' shows - which are great, but I think the fans of electronic music should be hearing this stuff as well. I think Snowman Plan has more in common with that style in that it's texture-based, instrumental music, rather than singer/songwriter stuff.
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