originally printed in Flagpole Magazine, Athens, GA: http://flagpole.com/Music/RecRev/DarkDarkDark/2008-11-12/

The Snow Magic captured me immediately and has been twisting my mind for the last couple of hours, through two listens to the disc and a page of publicity information.

It seems the band formed out of life’s great plan for travelers: chance meeting. Accordionist/vocalist Nona Marie Invie met runaway banjo-playing raftsman Marshall LaCount sometime in 2006, and they began playing music as a way of “earning passage to New Orleans.” Eventually they met the cellist and upright bass player, and they played around the country for about two years, then went into the studio with Andrew Bird’s live drummer and musician/producer Robert Skoro.

The result of these studio sessions is an elegant, honest and captivating blend of Eastern European- and Appalachian-influenced folk with a touch of the cabaret: it swings as well as it broods. And if you even think a group of vagabond gypsies would dare begin a story without intending to add a piece of your soul to its folklore by the time of their closing remarks, then you, my friend, are crazier than I.

Tags: dark dark dark, review, the snow magic

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