What Happened?
curbyrdog | Long Island, NY United States | 08/05/2002
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Looper (Stuart David formerly of Belle & Sebastian) started out with a bang. The debut album was a great mix of spoken word pieces and and very good, well crafted pop songs that formed a wonderful, unified whole. Anyone who has seen Looper perform live can apreciate how good and talented they truly are... which is why this new album is such a let down. I am a big fan of Stuart David's work both with Looper and while in Belle & Sebastian, however "The Snare" is just completely uninteresting, uninspired and droning."
Miserable
bushbean | Vashon, WA United States | 10/02/2002
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Remember the lush and loopy Scottish-folkies-meet-mixing-board electronica/pop sound of the Looper you had come to know and love? That's all been abandoned. Here we have a series of relatively conventional songs with Stuart David's uninspired vocals in the foreground. A regrettable change of course."
A Different Path
Ironmaus | Seattle, WA | 01/15/2008
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Gone are the cute keyboards and purposeful tape hiss of the previous two albums and the MP3 EPs. Instead, we get drum sequences and echoey, bell tone synthesizers. The closest thing in any of their previous albums to the content of The Snare would probably be "Pale Blue E-Type" from The Geometrid though even this song doesn't betray the lounge feeling of this newer record. In fact, without the whispered vocals and electronic blips of previous, they don't sound much like the older Looper at all. Instead, they sound like Olive, Mono, Dreadzone, or Hooverphonic. For my money, the aforementioned bands all do a more capable job with this sound.
The focus in song writing is atmosphere, groove, and hummable hooks. I don't find the hooks as hummable as in previous installments but, then again, I didn't get into either the atmosphere nor groove. There are people out there who will like this sound but it's not what I was expecting. Look for my copy in the used section."
