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From the bits. From the scars. —There is no beauty without the wound.
Furious, relentless, maybe less starry-eyed but at the same time profound, celestial and poetic, London concrete-punks Qlowski are back with ‘The Wound’ their second album on Maple Death & Feel It Records, a record that feels like the culmination of their lives, politics and sense of community. Still led by the dual-force of Mickey and Cecilia, Qlowski has expanded into a collective with the addition of Christian, Lucy and James, creating a sense of urgency and sweeping palette that was only hinted at on their debut ‘Quale Futuro?’.
Dream-punk, propulsive rhythms, oblique kiwi-pop, dark punk are still part of their vocabulary but the band smashes borders with kosmische soundscapes, art-pop ballads, industrial beats and funked-up low-thud. Sonically impeccable, loaded with ear candy, the album was recorded in Dublin at Sonic Studios by Daniel Fox (Gilla Band) one of today’s most innovative producers and ‘The Wound’ ebbs and flows through syncopated grooves, abstraction and bliss, a work of contrast, dark-soft-heavy full cycle but mainly euphoric. The addition of drum pads, drum machines, electronics, analog pedals and field recordings are part of this process, it almost feels like a punk album for the club culture, where bodies and sweat are just one gear in bringing a community together.
Full of staples ‘Desire’ mixes anarcho-punk bleakness with New Order-ish ecstasy and Mickey’s commanding vocal presence, ‘Surrender’ almost feels like the Cure on a Martin Hannett diet of pills and reverb chambers, ‘It May Change’ and ‘Mastering The Motions’ dance on the cusp of angular funk, all wiry and bouncy recalling Pylon but also euro icons Kleenex. ‘Praxis’ and ‘Stronger Than’ show how far Qlowski has come, dream-pop ballads that shine though analog synths (Siel Orchestra, Juno) and Ceci’s heavenly delivery.
Spread out between London, New York and Glasgow, The Wound, is also the result of the dramatic past years we have been living in, written in between protests on the streets of London, rallies, Pro-Palestine marches, Renters’ Union gatherings, a sense of helplessness spreading but also a euphoric determination to fight and bring social justice at all costs.
Even when you feel resolutely in the camp of the defeated, you should know, defeat has nothing to do with surrender. Qlowski are here to evolve, more determined than ever.
Black vinyl edition of 200 with poster zine.