QLOWSKI
Announce debut album, Quale Futuro?
due 4th June on Maple Death Records
One. Simple. Direct. Question. Quale Futuro? What Future? Obliterated by a tumultuous year with lingering anxiety, uncertainty and a city ready to break any strand of hope, Qlowski resorted to what they know best, turning frustration into dreams, stockpiling possibilities, fabricating desire and simply, living. This is Quale Futuro? their debut LP for Maple Death Records and Feel It Records (North America), due 4th June 2021. Preorder here.
The band will also be playing a headline release show at London’s Moth Club on 4th June – tickets and info here.
Now they also share new single/video, ‘A Woman’, a song that shines brightly with vocalist/keyboardist Cecilia Corapi’s intimate and prismatic approach that unites Poly Styrene’s fierce delivery with the ethereal vocal melodramas produced by Joe Meek in the 60s.
“A woman like me should be strong enough to let it go, to let it flow. And I tried, I’m trying, and I tried,” sings Corapi; an anthem for anyone who has ever felt diminished or discouraged but still knows their true value.
The band say of the accompanying video, “There’s a famous Irish republican quote that goes “It is not those who can inflict the most, but those who can suffer the most who will prevail”. In this sense A Woman is a song of victory, and the video tries to tell this story. Sometimes victory comes through apparent surrendering. In this video Cecilia surrenders to the Futuro Police, to all the forces that are trying to dictate her destiny and essence. But she does that on her own terms, singing her own song, finally proud and fierce in her own persona.”
Instantly you find yourself at the center of this immersive creation. Hypnotic waves crash over the soundscape as the fierce notes and changes emerge, this whirling instrumentation finds this enticing appeal against the brash yet compelling vocal textures. This sultry aura becomes the essential destination and Qlowski showcases their captivating composition that will leave it’s remarkable impression.
What future? What futures? When fear substitutes truth / Misinformation obscures reality / And speculation prevails on experience / Brutality seems necessary / And empathy appears naive
London based twee-punks Qlowski entered the studio in late January 2020, basically before everything. Crammed in a small studio room in Tottenham Hale with producer Lindsay A. Corstorphine (Sauna Youth, Cold Pumas, Middex) they created a striking, full blown manifesto, where their early post-punk nuances are heightened by an extremely poetic and compelling vision that encapsulates words, imagery and noise.
Propulsive rhythms, a modern spin on kiwi-pop and a weird combination of dark punk, noise rock and flower pop are still the foundation of their sound but it’s the combination of bandleaders Mickey and Cecilia’s voices that creates an eerie effortless sense of familiarity. It’s no wonder they’ve known each other since they were young kids.
‘A Woman’ shines bright with Cecilia’s intimate and prismatic approach that unites Poly Styrene’s fierce delivery with the ethereal vocal melodramas produced by Joe Meek in the 60s. Mikey’s howl is confrontational and direct, moving from the motto-induced style of Italian new wave art-punks CCCP on ‘Lentil Soup’ to a deep commanding calm steadiness on ‘Lotta Continua’ and frenetic frenzy on ‘To Be True’.
The stabilizing presence of Danny and Christian’s rhythm section has freed the band to develop and expand furious kraut-punk assaults like on deep cut ‘The Wanderer’. Les Miserable from London punks Italia 90 lends his snarl on the sci-fi 50s tinged romantic closer ‘In A Cab To Work’.
Ferocity, heart, art and conviction travel together on Quale Futuro?, placing Qlowski in that beautiful lineage of bands trying to escape the masculine showmanship of borderline rock’n’roll and outsider punk. Martin Newell, Television Personalities, Half Japanese, The Raincoats, The Clean, Killing Joke, Aussie Punk. Music narrating life through all the artistic forms. If concrete-punk was just a fun label thrown around to define Qlowski in the early days, now it has become a calling, a statement defining their future.
Qlowski is Michele Tellarini (Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals), Cecilia Corapi (Keyboards, Vocals), Danny Smartt (bass, clarinet) and Christian Billard (drums, percussions). Quale Futuro? Recorded and mixed at Devils Mango IV by Lindsay A. Costorphine. Mastered by Mikey Young. Artwork by Harry Steel.
Quale Futuro? is also a 28 page zine, in which more than 20 artists and friends contributed with images, poems and short essays. ‘What Future?’ is an attempt to answer to the album’s main question, and ultimately to generate new narratives through different perspectives.
Contributors include Liv Wynter, Maura Sappilo, Rachel Hodgson, Volodea Biri, Les Miserable (Italia 90), Chiara Gambuto, Jorge Antony Stride, Fra Goats (Kobra), Kevin Hendrick, James Burgess (Static Palm), Raquel Torre (Lacquer), Andrea de Franco, Jonathan Clancy (Maple Death Records), Sam Richardson (Feel It Records), cleversquared, Carolina Martines, James Cox (Crows), Grotto Terrazza (Bleib Modern), Agnese Alstrian, Laura Marongiu.
Preorder:
https://mapledeath.lnk.to/QlowskiQF
Tracklisting:
1. Ikea Youth Pt. 2
2. Folk Song
3. A Woman
4. Lentil Soup
5. To Be True
6. All Good
7. Interlude (02-11-1975)
8. Lotta Continua
9. Larry’s Hair Everywhere
10. The Wanderer
11. In a Cab to Work (ft. Les Miserable)
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