The coolest underground musicians in America right now are sitting in a grey mall parking lot in Detroit. Tatiana Schwaninger has been searching for a jacket for one of their new music videos. “Just something swaggy,” she laughs, currently wearing a puffer jacket with her long brunette hair hanging in a neat middle part. “Anything that’s not too crazy looking.” Her Snow Strippers bandmate Graham Perez is sitting alongside her wearing sunglasses and drinking an iced coffee.
Fans of their intense Crystal Castles-esque electronic music don’t know much about them, the mystery not necessarily as self-conscious as it is a reflection of their personalities. “We’re not the type of people who wanna put our whole lives out there anyways. We don’t want to be all over the internet and we don’t want to take any from the art and what we’re doing. It’s not some reality TV show or some shit,” says Graham. “If I fuck with a person’s art, I’m not someone who’s interested in what their day-to-day life is like. ‘Who are they dating right now?’ I think people make it out to be like ‘they’re so mysterious’ but it’s just who we are as people really.”
They’re a pair of few casual but considered words as they explain the ideology behind their music. “Just making the most beautiful songs possible, the most euphoric songs possible, shit that we like to play for our friends,” he explains. They call it EDM, a genre with connotations of ripped 00s Florida bros in snapbacks, ecstasy and red cups. “Hell yeah,” Graham nods when I tell him that. “I know people think that when I tell them we make EDM too but I don’t know what else to call it. We fuck with EDM for sure, the trashy shit, shit that makes you dance, classic melodies.” DJ Sammy? “Yeah, we fuck with that for sure. I feel like there wasn’t enough of this shit that sounds like our music right now so we kept building on that and stuff we like to play in the whip to dance to and shit.”
Their songs are confrontational, full-throttle and indeed trashy, evoking ruinous and haunting emotions. They combine the poppy ethereal elements of witch house, new rave and shoegaze in a sound that only could’ve been released after the advent of hyperpop. It’s music to fantasise about hidden worlds to at a warehouse party; to completely lose yourself in late at night. Though they say they’ve been surprised to find their fanbase is diverse and wide-ranging, it’s obvious that in addition to the great critical reception they received as one of the most hyped artists at this year’s SXSW festival, their following primarily consists of other cool kids and people who loved the roots of this sound the first time round during 00s indie.
Snow Strippers met years ago in Clearwater, Florida, where Tati was born and raised. From their initial hang at a sushi restaurant, they instantly got along, sharing interests and reference points (“We’re like twins honestly,” says Graham). He had a background working as a producer for a variety of different artists, which Tati says is the reason their music sounds so good. From Florida, they moved to LA, later applying to different apartments around the country when they felt like a change – when a Detroit landlord accepted them first, they decided the city was as good as anywhere else. This is their third year living here.
“Everybody has their opinions of Detroit, whenever we say we’re here they have that romanticised version of it in their heads,” shrugs Graham. “Like ‘hell yeah, Detroit, EDM’. But we don’t know anything about the electronic scene out here, we just make what we like to make.” They began Snow Strippers as their first project together in late 2021: Graham producing, Tati providing vocals and feedback on his beats and both having full creative control over visuals, videos and social media. Most of their days are spent on their couch in the apartment, sitting around his laptop, focused on honing Snow Strippers’ sound and making art. They rarely go out. For a pair that spends this much time in their own world together, they frequently finish each other’s sentences. When they try to think of interests they have outside of their project, they hit a dead end. “Your hobby is just making the band better,” Tati says to Graham.
For their short time as a group, they’ve had a prolific output, with a newly-released third record already. “To other people, it might seem like we’re flooding, maybe, just because we put out so much music but we make so many videos and songs that don’t end up coming out,” Graham says. “I like everything to be fresh and on the vibe we’re on right now. I don’t like sitting and waiting on shit; it’s not good energy. We like to do shit right before the song drops. Personally I don’t even like posting old pictures. Everything has to be new and fresh.” The new release, April Mixtape 3, gets even closer to EDM but maintains their dark vision. On their latest YouTube video of the audio for “Don’t You Feel”, one top YouTube comment summarises the impulse to listen to Snow Strippers: “nice agonizing pain bro 2023”.
The mixtape marks their first release working with a label other than their own — they’ve partnered with their friends at New York collective Surf Gang Records for a distribution deal. “Control is everything to us,” says Graham. “We still have total control, they fuck with everything we do, we fuck with everything they do, we trust their taste.”
When the conversation comes to a close so they can continue their hunt for the perfect styling for Tati, Graham thanks me for fucking with Snow Strippers. “There’s a lot of music out there where the art is bad, the visuals are bad, the lyrics are bad,” he says. Tati looks at him and agrees, “We just want to be a breath of fresh air at all times.” Graham closes the sentiment for her, as though they share one enigmatic brain: “And try our best to make the most beautiful thing.”
Credits
Photography Lola Dement Myers