Qui – Love’s Miracle

Surprisingly enjoyable outing from three nutjobs, including David Yow, ex-howler for Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid. For better or worse, comparisons are gonna be inevitable, but the nice thing is – and who knows if it’s simply that this is an entirely new band or changes in my own musical tastes over the years – but I found Qui’s brand of jazzed-out rant rock, equal parts dread and joy, pretty goddamn pleasant on the ears.

Much of Yow’s screech and swagger is thankfully missing from Love’s Miracle (with the exception of the snarling, over the top psych-blues cover of Zappa’s “Willie The Pimp”, definitely the most enjoyable nod to Jesus Lizard’s heyday on these ears) and is instead replaced with a more subtle mix of Amphetamine Reptileesque skronk and – I can hardly believe I’m saying it myself – nearly pretty numbers, including the Pink Floyd cover (!) at the end.

The downers come in the form of songs like “Today, Gestation” and “Gash”; that undercurrent of melody that’s such a nice surprise scattered here and there throughout the record take a backseat for stranger, more menacing and less structured waters – almost free-form drum and guitar improvs with Yow doing his signature rants over the top.

All in all, it was a pretty pleasant run, especially for someone who’s never been a fan of Yow’s earlier work. I can’t really say how much play this album will get while I’m doing dishes or drawing (I am, at heart, ultimately more interested in straight-ahead, 1-2-3-4 punk rock, something Love’s Miracle just doesn’t have) but these guys definitely get points for consistently kicking out the unexpected.

My only bummer is that Yow totally blows his delivery of the joke about the penguin and the gas station in one of the songs. Other than that, nice work, gentlemen.