Soft-focus songs with poetic pretentions, as suggested in the group’s name and the inclusion of W. B. Yeats and Sylvia Plath among their stated influences. Unfortunately, the spoken (whispered) word sections, in which this poeticism is most apparent, don’t work for me at all. Elsewhere, the nine tracks – apparently inspired by Chopin and Bon Iver as well as Plath and Yeats, but in fact calling to mind Joni Mitchell or a less edgy and intellectual Jenny Hval – are understated, breathy, frosty, shimmering. It is no great criticism to say they don’t match Mitchell in terms of songcraft – that’s a high bar – and Snowpoet do succeed in creating a mood.

It is, though, liable to fade into the background. Every now and then we get a hint of what could have been achieved with a bit of sandpaper to rub off the gloss.

As it stands, the album is ambient and twinkling but pallid too; the occasional unrounded edge, even the odd splinter, would be welcome.