Qui – Love’s Miracle (Ipecac / Southern)
3/5
By: Charlie Potter
I'd have loved to have done a review of this album that didn't even mention The Jesus Lizard, but unfortunately I could not resist. Those of you looking for an unbiased review in that sense should probably look away now.
I've read a fair amount of stuff saying how different Qui are to The Jesus Lizard, and to a degree I agree with that - Qui are a band who have a diverse amount of influences, as did The Jesus Lizard. Yet overall I'm not convinced. There is even at times a feeling of Qui guitarist Matt Cronk mimicking Duane Denison's sinister yet vast chords, particularly in the song 'Belt'. This band are at least much more for The Jesus Lizard fan than Duane Denisons project Tomahawk.
It seems strange that ex Jesus Lizard singer David Yow has ended up in this band, a group who haven't been around that long, but are remarkably similar to his former employers. Why not just get back together with Duane, Dave? Of course, sounding like the Jesus Lizard is no bad thing, and that is not all there is to 'Love's Miracle'. There is a much stronger feeling of sleazy stripped back small venue rock to this record. This obviously isn't up there with the best of The Jesus Lizard's recorded output, but it's sort of nice to think of it as a sort of mediocre Jesus Lizard album.
It is just so nice to hear Mr. Yow's voice again. It is an oddly warming experience to have a desperate drunk shouting at you. Something that often gets overlooked with Yow is that he is not all just macho shouting, he is actually a very sensitive soul, his voice often reduced to a wavering quiet strand, particularly in 'Belt', where the shit really does hit the man. That, and he's still an amazing lyricist.
But Qui are a charming little duo and undoubtedly worthy of his presence. They understand how to strip things back, which takes a lot of people a lifetime to achieve. It's not about just having less riffs, it's about having better fills, it's about being able to hear every instrument clearly. That leaves you the ability to essentially just play one riff for a whole song and still keep your interest, which allows David Yow a nice simple structure to work his meandering lyrics off of. As such the songs on 'Love's Miracle' sound quite simple at first, but are in fact full of very clever little guitar lines and drum fills, weird chords that resolve in very considered ways.
It is fairly obvious that the Qui boys are pretty into their music, not only from the Beefheart and Pink Floyd covers but also from the simple joy to the sounds they make on this album that makes for a large proportion of the charm on this recording. They are undoubtedly accomplished musicians. The drumming is fantastic as is the recording of the drums, the overall sound is a very meaty hard and full, untamed one. Too many producers try and make drums sound too much like a drum machine. Now I have nothing against drum machines, but it is fantastic to be able to hear a guy really knock the balls out of a kit.
But really this album has served more purpose as a tool for generating excitement about the live show coming our way in November, taking out the covers leaves a mere 7 original tracks, and although it has quite a lot of variation in it, somehow this album, despite being made up entirely of good songs, is not one that you can really get your teeth sunk into.
Stream two tracks from 'Love's Miracle' HERE.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment