Quindi are one of those labels that seem to unearth some great bands on a regular basis and I always check their releases with interest. Their latest find is Ie from Minneapolis, and I'm smitten. A traditionally equipped five piece consisting of Michael Gallope on keyboards, Meredith Gill on drums, Sam Molstad playing guitar and bongos,
Mariel Oliveira delivering bass, vocals, and flute and Travis Workman on guitar and keyboards, whose sound is anything but traditional.
Saying that this new single is something of a friendlier, more familiar sounding departure from their often instrumental, droning, kosmische minimalism, and as much as I love their signature sound I'm certainly not complaining.
The band opt for a less is more approach, everyone happy to complete their chosen tasks and feed the hive rather than strive to be the queen. A simple, sombre rhythm underpins the sparkling, low key lysergic dirge, it's pulsing melancholy saved from irreversible depression by the lighter hearted keyboard tones and refrains, and buoyed on occasion by the guitar which is given a freer hand for variation's sake. But what really ices the thoughtfully crafted tune is the deadpan vocals of Oliveira who lends the first half of the track some early eighties gothic face-paint which she deliberately smears onto the hypnotic instrumental.
It's a great taster for the (already too short) five track EP dropping on May 9th - put the date in your diary, I have.
Playlist Companion
Find "Simplify" in the Slow Psyche Playlist for the sake of argument.
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