Quint
Sleeve

Melody Maker
April 4th 1998
TIME WOUNDS ALL HEALS
(Egypt)


If pop music for you is solely something to hum along to in the shower, a form of pleasant aural wallpaper, then (in best imitation traffic-cop voice) "Move along, folks, ain't nothing for you here". This ain't easy listening by any stretch of the imagination. But the best things in life don't always come easy; sometimes you get as much as you give, sometimes it feels right to suffer for someone else's art rather than just observe it.
Passages of this, Quint's debut album, feel like you're taking refuge in a tin shack as the mother of all tornados rages around you. Harsh, discordant guitar slashes away methodically, while torrents of free-jazz trumpet and vicious violin attack rain down on all sides. It's kinda like being locked in a room with three different Steve Albini records all playing at once, at different speeds! If this all sounds horrifically messy and incoherent, Sally Young's distinctive vocals and gift for the deceptively formless rock tune ensure that these noise-outs are effortlessly absorbed into the stirring, structured songs that bear them.
So, no, this isn't easy listening, but neither is it bloody-minded difficulty for its own sake. The music surges, mirroring the dramas unfolding in the lyrics. Simultaneously poetic and thoroughly bullshit-free, it rocks because of its pretensions, not in spite of them.
Polly Harvey, watch out!

STEVIE CHICK

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