The Snare (album)

The Snare
Studio album by
Looper
Released2002
LabelMute[1]
ProducerPeacock Johnson
Looper chronology
The Geometrid
(2000) 		The Snare
(2002) 		Offgrid:Offline
(2015)

The Snare is the third album by the Scottish band Looper, released in 2002.[2][3] Frontman Stuart David adopted the persona of Peacock Johnson.[4]

Production

The album shares themes and characters with David's novel The Peacock Manifesto.[5] "This Evil Love" is about romantic obsession.[6] The music shifted from the dance styles of the first two albums to include downbeat and trip hop elements.[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic51/100[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
The Gazette[10]
NME2/10[11]
Pitchfork6.1/10[12]
Playlouder[13]
Q[14]
Uncut6/10[15]
Winnipeg Sun[7]

Pitchfork wrote: "Easy to dismiss, smirk at, or even hate on the first listen, nine out of The Snare's ten tracks are grind-and-pause, semi-sultry pairings of exotic keyboard settings and mid-tech beats that exploit their refrains and come weirdly close to the patterns of 'risqué' after-dinner radio pop circa 1999-present."[12] Exclaim! determined that "as an isolated album it comes across as little more than sub-par art pop whose tunes are monotonous and whose lyrics are obtuse."[5] The Gazette considered it "a dark, brooding work which holds together well, but struggles to free itself from its own weight."[10]

The Sunday Herald deemed the album "10 menacing murder ballads, all characterised by ... dulcimer, baritone sax burps and tinkly music-box noises, backed by a Casio-keyboard approximation of the stuttering beats of modern R&B."[16] The Northern Echo called it "a black masterpiece."[17] The Philadelphia Daily News labeled it "a mysterious soundtrack of the mind with R&B, hip-hop and spaghetti western inflections."[18]

AllMusic wrote that "Looper drops their bright playfulness for a sophisticated, darker counterpart which uses jazz, R&B, and trip-hop as its foundation."[9]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."The Snare" 
2."Sugarcane" 
3."New York Snow" 
4."Peacock Johnson" 
5."Driving Myself Crazy" 
6."Lover's Leap" 
7."Good Girls" 
8."She's a Knife" 
9."This Evil Love" 
10."Fucking Around" 

References

  1. ^ "Caring for Looper". CMJ New Music Report. Vol. 71, no. 766. Jun 10, 2002. p. 42.
  2. ^ "Looper Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  3. ^ "Looper: The Snare". The A.V. Club. 25 June 2002. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  4. ^ Shepherd, Fiona (21 June 2002). "New Releases". The Scotsman. p. 14.
  5. ^ a b "Looper The Snare Exclaim!". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  6. ^ Niesel, Jeff (June 13, 2002). "Looper 'The Snare'". Entertainment. The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. 22.
  7. ^ a b Sterdan, Darryl (July 12, 2002). "Looper The Snare". Entertainment. Winnipeg Sun. p. 24.
  8. ^ "Reviews for The Snare by Looper". Metacritic. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Looper The Snare". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  10. ^ a b Dunlevy, T'Cha (27 June 2002). "Looper The Snare". The Gazette. Montreal. p. D4.
  11. ^ Dempster, Sarah (June 1, 2002). "Looper : The Snare". NME. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Looper: The Snare". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  13. ^ Oliver, Dave (24 June 2002). "The Snare - Looper". Playlouder. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  14. ^ Low on booty-shaking but high on atmosphere. [June 2002, p.119]
  15. ^ This sees David finally jettisoning his twee heritage for a filmic kitsch. [Jun 2002, p.116]
  16. ^ Virtue, Graeme (26 May 2002). "Sax and violence". Sunday Herald. p. 14.
  17. ^ Lloyd, Chris (30 May 2002). "Simply the N-E best". The Northern Echo. p. 4.
  18. ^ Takiff, Jonathan (18 June 2002). "Fused-Out". Features. Philadelphia Daily News. p. 33.
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