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Excerpt from HearTheIndie.com: As the opening moments of QNIEZERY's spell my name in slowmo started to roll by I thought to myself something along the lines of "This is very moody and atmospheric, almost depressing, and reminiscent of a good friend of mine in the band Nights Amore who develops chill out trip-hop like this himself." Indeed, the first track "not my forte" is only the beginning of something very interesting from an artist who exists in relative independent obscurity. As I dig throughout QNIEZERY's various social media pages, the only real self-described characterization I can find is the simple phrase "soft but disturbing." Though in some senses a bit too narrow and simpleminded a description of music, it does manage to capture my sensations as I view the physical aesthetic realization of this album in the bleak, black-and-white album cover; paired with the pulsing, bass heavy, electronic instrumentation that enters into movements of electronica, trance, industrial, and other genres of music. Complete review: QNIEZERY's spell my name in slowmo started to roll by I thought to myself something along the lines of "This is very moody and atmospheric, almost depressing, and reminiscent of a good friend of mine in the band Nights Amore who develops chill out trip-hop like this himself." Indeed, the first track "not my forte" is only the beginning of something very interesting from an artist who exists in relative independent obscurity. As I dig throughout QNIEZERY's various social media pages, the only real self-described characterization I can find is the simple phrase "soft but disturbing." Though in some senses a bit too narrow and simpleminded a description of music, it does manage to capture my sensations as I view the physical aesthetic realization of this album in the bleak, black-and-white album cover; paired with the pulsing, bass heavy, electronic instrumentation that enters into movements of electronica, trance, industrial, and other genres of music. Production/Composition The production on spell my name in slowmo is impressive. It manages to capture a perfect, haunting, downright chilling, atmosphere and almost a sense of a dread across it's 11 tracks. The last trip-hop album that made me feel something along the lines of this was on Blue Sky Black Death's album NOIR. As I listened to QNIEZERY's entire album, I found no point at which I could really complain with the sound. It was captivating, bordering on perfection for such an independent construction and release. As for the compositions on this record, they rely heavily on genre archetypes; however manage to create an unnerving sense of uniqueness. Elements like the tribal, wooden sounding, percussion and strange tones that emerge on tracks like "neo tokyo at dawn," which runs somewhat parallel with elements of Yanni (a great composer and producer known to blend acoustic and live instrumentation with electronic in a very symphonic and cinematic manner) as well as other artists within the trip-hop genre. The utilization of a pan flute (or something comparable) here is especially intoxicating. At it's end result, the sounds on this album remind me so heavily of the work of Clint Mansell, who has constructed such great albums of music for films like The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream; as well as video games like Mass Effect 3. Fortunately for QNIEZERY, all of these influences, similar sounding artists, and elements come together to form a whole larger than it's parts. A unique listening experience in the least. Instrumentation/Vocals The trip-hop genre is intriguing to me because of it's innate ability to be beautiful. It's ability to speak without even using voices (at least, in a formally sung manner). Perhaps I misunderstand the genre, but from all my experiences listening to music within it's confines; I always seem to plummet into a mood bordering on depression; maybe melancholia. Sure, there is "happier" representations of the genre out there, but much of it seems to rely on these feelings of sadness, and maybe at a philosophical endpoint some sort of existential nihilism. It's strange in and of itself that I even think of such things while simply listening to music. Certainly, listening to standard stadium rock acts don't invoke such thought processes to occur in my mind. All of this is said to simply summarize that spell my name in slowmo by QNIEZERY is a delightful, thought provoking, and intimately constructed piece filled with a plethora of instrumental colors and atmospheres making it worthwhile to listen to, and even worth the price of a physical copy as well. Every synth lead, swelling pad, wubbing bass, and quick paced glitch drum tone moves perfectly across the sonic landscape. And the artist paints with some additional tools at times like on the aforementioned "neo tokyo at dawn" as well as on the glitch heavy "o' gort, where art thou?" and bell synth dominated "last blue blur." Taken as individual tracks, most of these pieces are essentially perfect and distinctly memorable; but when taken as a whole, the album works it's magic best. There are no real vocals on this album, but some samples add to the atmosphere heavily in ways common to the genre. Overall Impression It's been a while since I've really been impressed by a trip-hop release. The genre is sort of stale, while also beautiful at times. QNIEZERY draws on elements of dubstep, trip-hop, drum & bass, glitch, among many other electronic (and non-electronic) styles of music to formulate this incredibly moody and interesting compilation that is spell my name in slowmo. As I write this, the insanely strange "or the ladies, them flex and the hyper..." is crossing through my streaming playlist; and intoxicating me with the obscure, alien-vocoded vocals. I'm not sure if this album feels more like life or death to me, more like sadness or depression to me; but I do know this: it feels good to listen to. It's complex and interesting while still drawing on elements of the genre that make people "like" this sort of music. It manages to hit all the right notes, really. Not only do I listen to it, but I want a copy of it in my collection! |
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