The Afterlife

Where there is life, there is death. For Snowman frontman Joe McKee, this truism applies not only to upcoming release ‘Absence’, but also to the group’s recent disbandment.

“It has been a whole kind of up and down process of resuscitating the band,” McKee explains. “I feel that we've done that a few times, but it felt like Snowman was on her last legs and this was the time for us to go our separate ways. I guess in that respect, the album is a big parting gift to each other and to whoever actually listened to us.”

With its members dispersed across London and Iceland, Snowman will “posthumously” release 'Absence' this month, after a three-year “labour of love” leading to the album's completion.  “The album has been a long time in the making, but we're all very proud of it. We're all itching to move forward with our own projects, whether that be creating babies or creating more music - I'm of the latter ideal,” he says.

Recorded by Aaron Cupples (The Drones, Paul Kelly, Dan Kelly), 'Absence' explores “separation, dislocation and displacement” - themes that bear an uncanny relevance to recent events in Snowman’s history.  “It's all about dislocation from the things that you're familiar with and the things you love,” he says. “We all moved together to London three years ago and in order to do that, we had to tear ourselves away from all of our comforts. There's this unnameable feeling you go through; it's kind of somewhere in between nostalgia and something else. We were trying desperately to capture these unnamed emotions and in between emotions; these things that we couldn't really put our finger on.

“All these feelings are wrapped up in a story of two lovers. One passes away and the other tries to communicate with their ghost. The storyline of the album is this big kind of metaphor for that kind of dislocation; that displacement, and attempting to communicate with something that is in the past or that no longer exists.

“It just happened that the band was splitting up during the process of writing this kind of album, which had those similar kind of themes. In this case, I think art and real life were kind of triggering each other. Even if the band hadn't actually split up, we were kind of aware that something was rumbling and that change was coming."

Having thrown himself wholeheartedly into 'Absence', and consequently the concepts explored, McKee admits to being a little emotionally wrecked. But after more than a decade in the songwriting game, he knows the feeling all too well.

“It definitely takes its toll,” he says. “When you write this kind of thing, you're channelling a certain emotion and some days it kind of stays with you while you're cooking dinner and other days you can kind of switch off on it.

“Songwriting is a bit of a rollercoaster; it's like chasing ghosts. You don't really know if your ability exists and you don't know where you're picking ideas from. I'm at a point where the emotion of it all seems to affect everything that I do, but it's something that I've lived with for a very long time. It just feels like that's me now; maybe I'm a masochist, I don't know,” he says pensively. 

While McKee is quick to quash any hopes of an album tour, he maintains it is all for the best. With a series of projects underway, including a solo album and new band, McKee refuses to dwell on past successes. But for now, he is happy just to see out Snowman's final chapter.

"It's funny you know, but 'Absence' is the only album of ours that I can actually go back to and listen to and enjoy. Maybe that's because we haven't toured it to death and we haven't really played these songs live, so it's still kind of new to me. I think it's nice that we left it at the recording stage, rather than trying to flog it like a dead horse.

"I'm already working on new material, but it's still early days. There's no rush at this stage, but it's good that I'm cracking on before this album hits shelves. I don't want to get complacent in my old age."

‘ABSENCE’ IS RELEASED APRIL 22.