Some albums begin with a drumbeat. Under the Snow Moon begins beside a childhood river.
Craig Osment recorded the sound on his phone, then used it beneath the opening track, ‘Summer 75’. By the album’s close, we are standing with him beside the ocean at Sennen Cove. Between those two places sits a deeply personal collection shaped by memory, family and the landscapes of Devon and Cornwall.
Connected with Torquay and South Molton, Craig describes the album as part autobiography and part love letter to the South West. Its songs look back across a life while keeping one ear firmly on the natural world around him.
Every track began as one continuous live performance of guitar and vocal. Additional instruments were then layered around that original take, without autotune smoothing away the human edges. That approach gives the record a closeness that suits its reflective writing. It feels less like somebody presenting a polished version of their past and more like being invited to sit quietly while they work through it.
Craig’s songwriting carries the influence of classic writers including James Taylor, Nick Drake and Jimmy Webb. During the 1990s, he toured London, Ireland and parts of Europe with Big Fish and Geneva before stepping away from songwriting to raise a family and build a career in mental health.
The Covid period brought him back to writing, initially as a form of therapy. Slowly, a new voice emerged, rooted in nature, place and earlier lives.
Craig played every instrument on the album apart from Catherine Robinson’s violin on ‘Hone and Dry’ and ‘Snow Moon’. He also produced the record, with mastering by Marco Saenz and cover artwork by Frazer Osment.
Under the Snow Moon is available now. It is an album that listens carefully to the past, then lets the tide carry it home.
