Although they could easily be mentioned in the same breath as Depeche Mode, Clan of Xyxmox, and New Order, Québec’s Handful of Snowdrops may be the best post-punk/post-goth band that nobody seems to have heard of. But over the course of 30+ years, Jean-Pierre and Michel Mercier (plus numerous collaborators) have released several albums and compilations’ worth of moody, atmospheric rock that any fan of the classic 4AD sound would do well to check out. (Case in point, their excellent cover of Clan of Xymox’s “Back Door.”)
By all appearances, 2015’s excellent III was Handful of Snowdrops’ final album. But earlier this year, the band ran a successful Indiegogo campaign to fund their fourth studio album. Titled Noir and consisting of 8 new songs, the new album will be released on November 30 (and is the planned first album in a trilogy titled “Trois Niveaux de Gris”). However, the band has released the above teaser for Noir, with brief snippets of the songs — all of which sound really good, and true to form for the long-running band.