By Keith Walsh
From his quiet studio in Belgium, Gilles Snowcat creates his own blend of pop and rock music. The most accurate description is probably art rock, though his lounge and jazz explorations are among his best. With his latest, “Tiny Little Ice Cubes” he really hits his stride, finding the perfect counterpoint for his gruff baritone in Adriana Dath. The relaxed vibe, lovely melodies and Gilles’ keyboards and production work all add up to a mini masterpiece. The single also includes a lovely cover of “Welcome/Faith” by Earth, Wind & Fire, and a radio edit of the single as well. The track also features bongo by Sébastien Bournier, guitars by hetpampa, and background vocals by Brick Bosso, barely audible for some reason.
Synthbeat: How did you arrive at the imagery of the Tiny Ice Cubes? What’s the symbolism?
Gilles Snowcat: Just by preparing a cocktail and some small ice cubes were sticking to my fingers. I thought it was a sign that a song was somewhere waiting in the wings to be written. There’s no symbolism, just the urge of making a good cocktail before the ice cubes melt.
‘Technology has made us soft, and nowadays we can’t stand things that were OK only 50 or 40 years ago. We used to hope that technology would make the world better and we realize that it’s hardly the case.’
Gilles Snowcat
Synthbeat: It’s a very sweet romantic track.
Gilles Snowcat: I don’t feel that song as madly romantic. It’s more a rooftop bar song, which is close to Frank Sinatra’s saloon songs, that kind of ‘been there done that’ thing. Of course in a bar we get a little tipsy so it’s easy to turn a little bit more romantic.
Synthbeat: What’s the secret of keeping that romantic optimistic outlook in this wicked world?
Gilles Snowcat: A strong and tasty cocktail will do, maybe? This being said, although I’m not a fan of this era, I don’t think that the world is more wicked than before. Technology has made us soft, and nowadays we can’t stand things that were OK only 50 or 40 years ago. We used to hope that technology would make the world better and we realize that it’s hardly the case. It made life easier, not necessarily better. Then we tend to think that everything is horrible, but the world has always been unfair in many ways.
Synthbeat: I like your EWF cover better than the original. If you had other instruments available which would you choose and what form would the song take?
Gilles Snowcat: When an original song has a strong identity, it’s difficult to do something different with it. I started to work with a more fully orchestrated arrangement, but I couldn’t depart from the original groove and it would have sounded too close to EWF’s version. It has a strong groove originally. Just playing it on the piano was a fresh way to see things. If I had the usual guitar / bass / drums band, it would have been more in the style of the Unboxing album.
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