plantman: closer to the snow

Arlen's second Plantman release, following January 2013's extremely well-received Whispering Trees. The project of former Beatglider man Matt Randall, this represents his early Plantman recordings, put together on a four-track at home and with band member Adam Radmall at John Hannon's NO recording studios. The songs reflect the mood upon the conclusion of the last Beatglider album Witches, as Randall was getting into The Go-Betweens and their simpler production values, and as a result found himself moving away from the sprawling seven-minute Beatglider offerings. Instead, what emerged was a 17-track album with shorter songs and more of a mixtape feel, influenced by bands such as Sebadoh, East River Pipe and Trembling Blue Stars. Closer to the Snow was originally released in a 35-copy CD-R run on the Cathedral Transmissions label, with available copies predictably hard to come by and commanding sizable fees since.