Anthony Snape

Anthony Snape describes himself as “no smoke, no mirrors.” And that’s a good way to look at his full-length debut, Disappearing Day. This is straightforward pop with a singer-songwriter edge. Think Howie Day with a stronger lean toward meaty hooks and you’ll have an idea of what to expect from Snape. Like Day, Snape’s music translates well to both full band arrangements and solo acoustic arrangements, as was made abundantly clear when catching the young performer in a live setting opening for guitar legend Tommy Emmanuel. In either setting, the hooks come through strong and clear, and Disappearing Day quickly suggests this Australian newcomer could soon be headed to radio overplay on a station near you.

The album, featuring a dozen songs, plays as more of a cohesive whole than one might expect from a pop songwriter. But within that whole are a number of potential singles, showcasing Snape’s ability to craft a melody and lure in listeners. “Call On Me” is perhaps on the more meaty end of the spectrum, with its earcatching electric guitar solo at the center of the piece, but it has alternative radio single written all over it. “Walking” has already been featured on American television (NBC’s “The Biggest Loser”) and has a Jon McLaughlin vibe working for it, suggesting it shouldn’t scare off radio programmers, even of the Clear Channel ilk. And “Daylight,” the album’s opener, all but screams out for the single treatment. Clearly it’s the song he hopes will succeed on that front, since it’s the only one he’s taken the time to shoot a video for. It’s a strong choice, introducing the album and giving a listener a solid idea of what to expect from the remaining eleven tracks.

The rest of the album, however, is on equal footing. “Disappearing Day,” a deceptively simple melodic pop number, serves as the fulcrum for the rest of the album. But “Sunday,” coming near the end of the proceedings, is the most memorable track on the album. “So easy to live my kind of life,” he sings. “You sit on the edge and watch the time fly. Don’t have much to spend but you seem to get by; you smile at the people getting on with their lives. I’m gonna sail right through this Sunday ‘cause Monday won’t cause me no pain. And before you are done with your weekly crusade it’s sure to be Sunday again.” It opens with a beautifully simple guitar melody on the first verse, then he brings in a full band arrangement which draws in his entire wealth of influences, sounding like everyone from Jon McLaughlin to Counting Crows and The Wallflowers, all while maintaining his own distinct sound through his bare-bones-but-effectively-melodic chorus.

The album then closes with Disappearing Day’s barest track, the stunningly evocative piano number “Stronger.” “I don’t know if I’m stronger, I just keep getting older and the only thing that’s sure is yesterday,” he sings. “Nothing yet has stopped me. As soon as I see my way through, I’m gone.” It’s a fitting end to the album, as he draws everything to a close by examining his overall artistic and spiritual conflict. It’s a song of astonishing depth that belies his young age. He can be sure of more than just yesterday … this is music of the highest caliber.

“She makes all these assumptions, adds these equations, then she draws a conclusion,” he sings on “Idiosyncracy,” summing up how many of us listen to an album these days. We look at an album cover, draw our conclusion of what to expect from an artist, then if the singer is lucky we actually take time to listen to the album. In Anthony Snape’s case, it thankfully won’t take too many listens to realize what a gem this debut effort is. With a few more like-minded albums under his belt, he’s liable to become a household name. Disappearing Day comes with my highest recommendation.

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