Album Review: Stöj Snak – Life, Death And Everything In Between

“Life Death And Everything In Between” is the Danish screamer-songwriter project Stöj Snak’s sophomore album, it follows in the wake left by their 2016 debut full length “ScreamerSongwriter“, the logical step was to build on the soundtrack from their stripped down debut album, and that is exactly what they’ve done, there’s also a slight shift in the line up that now includes members of Mighty Midgets, Columbian Neckties, Batolit and the 5Feet Under Records collective. When I reviewed Stöj Snak‘s debut album “ScreamerSongwriter” in 2016, a lifetime ago if you include how long 2020 has felt, I wrote it that it was “the finest folk punk album I’ve heard”, so expectations are raised for their long awaited sophomore album.

Singer and songwriter Niels Højgaard Sørensen remains front and centre in Stöj Snak, both lyrically and sonically, with his raw impassioned vocal delivery, but there is also a shift in the focus of the songwriting towards a more personal approach, as Sørensen himself explains “The songs on this album seem to circle around family and relationships in the modern, societal structures and how we, the inhabitants of these systems, are affected by them. How the constant chase after validation, possessions and careers constantly diverge our attention from the people and moments that are the most important to us. And make us forget ourselves”., this approach is also coupled with experimental and some surprisingly tender moments, something that is apparent on the album’s opening track ‘Reasons To Smile‘

Whilst “Life Death And Everything In Between” does take Stöj Snak in a different direction there are reassuring frantic moments, the raw folk punk of ‘Trees‘, ‘The (Not So) Great Depression‘, ‘Wants / Needs‘ and ‘This Condition‘ are offset against the oddly uplifting ‘Bliss Point‘ and the sarcastic ‘Sensible Utility‘. The deceptively understated environmental anthem ‘Drink From The Well‘ brings a skittering country beat into the mix, whilst ‘Songs About Beliefs‘ brings a heartfelt melody to the fore and the offbeat ‘Smoke‘ is reassuringly followed by ‘Fire‘. The album’s title track, a heartfelt ten minute finalé, provides a haunting and timeless end to an album that is the perfect follow up to their debut full length.

The album will be distributed worldwide as a collective effort by a dozen DIY labels, in England this is through Manchester’s TNSrecords, on vinyl here and digitally here, but “Life Death And Everything In Between” is also available through the Danish trio of 5 FeetUnder Records, Heartland Records and Angry Music Records, the German trilogy of Entes Anomicos, Maniyax Records and Incredible Noise Records, as well as Croatia’s Geenger Records, Chile’s La Caliya Project, Scotland’s Make-That-A-Take Records, Quebec’s You Look Like Shit Records and Stöj Snak‘s Bandcamp.