Description
Deep house might be Dials stock in trade, but the Hamburg crew have always had a fetish for elegiac post-rock, slowcore and bedsit indie miserabilism. But by far their most convincing entry in that area to date.
Scott Mou, known as one-half of the duoJane the folk techno drone duo he had withPanda Bear,as well as part of Manhattan’s famous record store Other Music, debuts with his solo project,Queens.Johan Jacobsendescribes the wonderful music of Queens “in oxymorons; ‘colorful monochrome,’ ‘myopic depth,’ ‘sad joy,’ ‘driven slowness,’ ‘enlightened darkness,’ ‘universal intimacy,’ ‘ethereal earthboundness.’ As it should be. Queens is one of those wonderful artists who are hard to catch on the fly, who escapes easy definition. His music is an unexpected and unimagined universe ready to be explored, and it’s a universe that is wonderful to be in.”
When Dial Records’ David Lieske and Peter Kersten listened to a performance of their New York-based friend in 2009, it was one of those unforgettable, unique experiences you only have once in a long while these days. The idea of releasing an album was born.
Opener Yellow Pages – a paean to the soon to be extinct phone directory sets the hypnotic, night-sensitised tone with its tremulous, cavernously reverbed finger-picking and naked, falsetto vocals; equal parts Kranky and Incredible String Band. Keep It’s plaintive, delay-heavy guitar lead aspires to Vini Reilly-grade afternoon reverie, and things get more interesting, and more visceral, on the heavy drone-poem Cables. Recording, production and mixing assistance comes courtesy of Dial luminaries Efdemin, Pantha Du Prince, but their interventions are delicate, respectful; they simply help document Mous performance and do little to mess with its lo-fi constitution. The lonesome, snowed-in atmospherics are lovely throughout, enough almost to make you miss a long winter gone.
Label: Dial
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Germany
Released: Apr 2013
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Ambient, Acoustic, Drone, Folk
File under: Ambient / Experimental / IDM
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