Footprints Through The Snow is an elegant and sweet natured album that takes a Conor Oberst / Elliott Smith drift through tales of heartbreak and poignantly hopeful woe. Every so often it teeters in the direction of the Valley of the Twee, and with Belle & Sebastian currently lost on the spaceship T-Rex, there’s room for Ant in the valley. Ant’s voice is sweet, the songs are coy and charming, full of plaintive violin, wheezing harmonium, twinkly keyboards and strummed guitar, but none of this threatens to set the world on fire. It’s good, of its kind - there’s a lot of wistful daydreaming, and nowhere does anyone repeatedly sing “You’re beautiful...” in a constipated yelp. By track 9, though, it begins to outstay its welcome. There’s no real change in pace or melody, and nothing much to make you sit and listen right the way through. Thirteen tracks of much of a muchness, as pleasant as that muchness is, is a little bit too much. There’s not much else to say, really, so here are some reference points: Magnet, Gravenhurst, Bright Eyes, Aberfeldy and The Magic Numbers. He’s Swedish, by the way, and he recorded this album in Italy. On track 8, he sings about London and the Isle of Wight.

'Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant', their 4th album on Matador Records, opts for a subtle, intimate palette that reveals its charms only in its own sweet time.

「要是你喜歡Sarah Records，喜歡簡單而清新的吉他音樂，或是陽光充沛的早上，甚至是繁星滿天的晚上。我想，你也會喜歡Club 8。」－－香港《MCB音樂雜誌》 如果說The Field Mice的首支單曲Emma's House，是啟發Club 8團員Johan拿起吉他彈起鍵琴，玩起獨立流行曲式的開端，那取自同名專輯的She Lives By The Water，便是自己重新認識Club 8的契機，尤其是樂團經過約兩年的沉潛。無疑地，Club 8早不見Nouvelle首張專輯時的青澀，在幾首Johan自認最喜愛的曲子當中，除了A Place In My Heart，其它像She Lives By Water、Love In December和Falling From Grace, Johan如大師般地計算製作，在曲子外衣上著了一層又一層朦朧水色，漫出柔如絲綢般地電音質感。 還是要聽聽Club 8的爵士流行招牌，到底成熟了多少。Boyfriends Stay放緩腳步的Bossa，與封面Karolina甜甜淺睡的面容映照，外頭的陽光催眠似地遙遠；短短50秒的兩首，London和I Don't Need Anyone，木吉他簡單地撩撥，學足偶像Blueboy，而Johan和Karolina則有默契地各唱一首。Hope For Winter從樂器裡出來的所有聲音，都像在雪地上輕輕印上雪痕，讓人打從心底裡伴著舒服。Club 8的專輯總是配合季節發行，第一張Nouvelle在夏天，第二張The Friend I Once Had在秋天，這張Club 8在冬天，最新的Spring Came，Rain Fall在春天，彷彿刻意安排的巧合，量身訂作各季節的心情；而Club 8也伴著自己，記錄了6年成長點滴。