Snowfall by Alexander Ortolan

"Could the bleak midwinter air / Ever bear a song of peace for one and all?"

The self-declared Scottish chanteur of existential chamber pop Alexander Ortolan caps off his debut year with a third release, the standalone single Snowfall. Following the Mothlight and Open-mirrored, flowing on EPs, the song takes a typically quixotic approach to the musical and lyrical tropes of the holiday song.

Sleigh bells, church bells and ghostly presences abound in what is arguably Ortolan’s most psychedelic musical moment to date, presenting a mind on the edge of sleep drifting off into a (possibly) snowbound night.

The sonorously delivered words play with imagery you may find in your favourite yuletide songs, while touching on the undoubted ambivalence of the time of year for many people: joy juxtaposed with deep melancholy, festivities fighting with anxiety, hope wrestling with despair. Among these carefully wrought lines you’ll even find glancing references to the work of Terence Davies and James Joyce.

Songs from Ortolan’s previous release, the Open-mirrored, flowing on EP, were featured on Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard and various radio shows across the BBC radio network, including Iggy Pop’s Iggy Confidential, New Music Fix and Roddy Hart. The title track of his debut EP, Mothlight, was featured in the breakfast blend (paired with The Walker Brothers) on Radcliffe & Maconie.

Singer-songwriter of existential chamber pop.