Anything That Moves, the follow-up to 2008’s What the Body Was Made For, is a provocative collection of impressions from Los Angeles-based Snow & Voices. Unfolding with the burgeoning “Maybe Finland” is Joshua Grange’s pedal steel and a collective-worth of instrumentalists to back Lauri Kranz’s ethereal vocals. For an album ostensibly narrating a break up (song titles like “Mistress” and “Everything Coming Apart”), the record is soaked in vulnerability and introspection. The attitude and forceful strumming on the last record is nearly gone, which is too bad because Snow & Voices can sound like a delicate version of Rilo Kiley circa More Adventurous. Matters are complicated with accusations, introspection and confessions. As capriciously as it arrives, “I Am A Storm” delves to the depths of strength and is a breakthrough reminiscent of what made Kranz such a winning vocalist on “Hearts Were Made to Be Broken” off What the Body Was Made For.
Played a bit safe, Snow & Voices needs a tougher skin to inject Anything That Moves the vivacity needed to save it from the lovesick blues. As wordsmiths, Kranz and bandmate Jebin Bruni prefer casting mystery and desire in supporting roles to heartache. Repetition is the key to the duo’s songwriting and lyrics and themes echo and return. Thoughts run-on to succeeding lines, as if getting the words out is a struggle, and the scope of the record crystallizes on album closer “Please Be My Lover.” Finally, there is a glimmer of relief.
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