Qui, Love’s Miracle

For their second album, Qui were ballsy enough to ask David Yow to join the band. They must have been extremely excited when he agreed — Yow’s such a strong presence that it couldn’t not change the band. Bandmates Paul Christensen and Matt Cronk may be afraid of being overshadowed by Yow, but on the other hand, their first album went pretty much unnoticed, so they shouldn’t feel too bad. On this new album, Love’s Miracle (great name, by the way), they have something much more powerful going.

You could see why Yow might decide to join them — Qui presents different challenges for him from the Jesus Lizard. Their sound is more complex: some songs are busy and metrically tricky enough that he can’t do his regular thing. Qui also uses lots of harmonies, which is definitely a new thing for Yow. The guitar parts range from pure power chords to more dissonant, hammering sounds, balanced by some twisted chromatic lines. So this would be an interesting situtation for someone like him.

“Gash” is probably the song here that works the best on its own terms; the big riffs are balanced with more open moments where Yow can rant and rave. The other songs that work (“Belt,” “Freeze,” and “Today, Gestation”) have a structure that’s more in the traditional punk vein — it’s very effective, but not very different. The rest have different kinds of structures and some interesting moments but aren’t fully formed, and Yow doesn’t quite find anything interesting to add.

Qui’s style of music makes it difficult for vocalists — the guitar and drum parts are so big and odd that they take center stage — so it’s interesting getting to see Yow here where he isn’t the focal point. If he’s happy with his reduced singing time, these guys could have something really different that’s as good as his Jesus Lizard stuff.