AN NCS PREMIERE: QUERCUS — “ILLEGIBLE TREE NAME”

Heart With Bread is the third album of the Czech avant grade funeral doom band Quercus. It will be released tomorrow (April 25) by Solitude Productions and Moscow Funeral League. What we have for you today is the premiere of a song called “Illegible Tree Name”.

The song is an unpredictable intertwining of contrasts, from the slow, reverberating strumming of a guitar to massive, earth-shattering chords, from shimmering evanescent sounds to unnerving drum blasts that explode like cannon shots. Muted, jagged, jabbing riffs appear, as does the rhythmic plucking of a single string. The music is both haunting and harrowing, hypnotic and hammering.

The pacing is of course very slow, with lyrics voiced in a deep growl, and the mood of the melodies is one of loss and grief. If you are familiar with previous Quercus recordings, you will be waiting for the tones of the church organ, and the high, quavering chords finally emerge nearly halfway through and remain a significant presence until the end. It creates a sensation of gravitas and solemnity — yet also a feeling of despair.

Heart With Bread continues to explore the band’s fascination with nature and the church organ and the connections they perceive between the two, as well as their musical immersion in melancholia and their proclivity for keeping listeners off-balance. It consists of five tracks, including a cover of “My Heart’s In the Highlands”, an arrangement of the Robert Burns song and poem by contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

Look for the album via Solitude Productions and Moscow Funeral League. A digital version of the album is also available for pre-order at the Bandcamp location below — where you can also listen to the album’s 22-minute opening track, “A Canticle For the Pipe Organ”.

http://quercusdoom.bandcamp.com/album/heart-with-bread
http://solitude-prod.com/
https://www.facebook.com/quercusdoom/
https://www.facebook.com/solitudeprod/