The Ladder (2015)

Believe it or not, this pandemic review of Natural Snow Building's discography, which started way back on March 23, is nearing the end.  We might actually finish this thing, which didn't seem like much of a possibility in March or April of this year.

It helps that NSB's infamous prolificity diminished in the 2010s.  2010 saw only one album (The Centauri Agent) and 2011 saw two (Waves of the Random Sea and Chants of Niflhelm).  2012 and 2014 each saw one studio album produced exclusively for sale at shows (Beyond the Veil and The Night Country) and one live album (Live Sheffield & London 2012 and Live at Cragg Vale), and nothing was released in 2013.  

As we noted the other day, 2015 saw the release of their album Terror's Horns.  But they also released 50 hand-numbered copies of a second CD, The Ladder, exclusively for special-edition preorder of Terror's Horns.  And that was it for 2015.  

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying they were slacking.  Most other bands don't produce six albums in six years, much less accompanied by two live albums and a full-length promotional album.  I'm only contrasting it with their previous prodigious output, such as the dozen albums of 2008 alone, many of which were multi-disc releases.

But anyway, yeah, we've got The Ladder.  This was recorded between 2013 and 2014 at Mehdi and Solange's home in Vitre, France, and is very similar in style and content to their other output during this period.  The drones are frequently spacey and ambient (Stellar Pit and Magic Bangles), but there's also their trademark folk songs (Comets Fall, Comets Slide) and some darker passages (Blood Meridian and the title track) to keep it interesting.  There's even a track reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's spaghetti-western soundtracks, 16 Girls In a Hole.   Solomon includes the first use of ambient field recordings in one of their songs that I can think of since the Dance of the Moon and the Sun era.

The Ladder was released by Ba Da Bing! Records, but unlike the other Ba Da Bing! recordings, it's not available on Spotify  I have no idea why not, and even more curious, digital downloads aren't available on Ba Da Bing!'s Bandcamp page.  The album, at only 50 copies, is naturally out of print, but used CDs can still be purchased (buyer beware) at $125 to $175 each.  It has been uploaded to YouTube, which is probably your best bet for hearing it.  I wish I could get my hands on a digital copy.

Here's the track list:

1. Cosmic Rays (4:56)
2. Comets Fall, Comets Slide (5:33)
3. Stellar Pit (12:41)
4. Magic Bangles (4:31)
5. Blood Meridian (1:39)
6. To Break Into Old Houses (And Never Get Caught) (5:10)
7. The Ladder (7:18)
8. Solomon (3:55)
9. Black Lanterns (2:41)
10. 16 Girls In A Hole (3:51)