| Melbourne-based Qua follows his debut Forgetabout with Painting Monsters On Clouds, a unique and flawless blend of electronically processed organic sounds. The album begins with "Painting Monsters and On Clouds," introducing us to Qua's cinematic instrumental arrangements, informing us that this is music to sit back and appreciate by degrees. He then draws us further into the landscape via Hiorthoy-esque percussion, somewhat like small typewriter parts raining lightly across one's forehead, and live, warm acoustic instruments embracing the processes of a computer in a feat of perfect balance without noticeable division. Always traveling forward until "Stranger Comforts Have Slipped By," in which the computer takes over to reveal the robotic circuitry beneath the music, and continuing over the next few tracks in electronic hurdles, until the album closes with "It Was This Space Between Us," drawing us back into the world of familiar instruments, into the emotive sound of Qua's unique balance of atmosphere and composition, reminding us that this is not an electronic artist's noodlings but the work of an at-heart and to-the-core musician: one who would never try to dupe us with mere audio tricks. Qua can be likened readily to Four Tet and Manitoba, but this is a lazy comparison; there is something else here, evident in repeat listening. Where others sound as though they let their bedroom projects loose on the world via an open window (directly into a record producer's office, perhaps), Qua gives the impression that he is inviting the listener into his room, to sit comfortably in a patch of sun and listen to the music direct from the source, to hear what he hears, confident in his ability as a musical story-teller, and respectful enough to let us hear it in our own time. - dB |
