Album Review: Quasi – Mole City

Quasi have been making music for 20 years, and to celebrate this outstanding milestone the duo are releasing this new album that is quite simply epic.
Clocking up a whopping 24 tracks, ‘Mole City’ is a record that sounds like it was conceived in the mind of Stephen Malkmus during a bad acid trip. There’s moments that are both dark and dreary, a type of deeply depressing slumber-rock that plods along to a symphony of fuzzy guitar licks (see ‘New Western Way’). Whilst on the other hand you’ve got the bluesy sounding, hook-filled power-pop tracks such as ‘Nostalgia Kills’, something that wouldn’t feel massively out of place if it was heard on a Black Keys album.

Throughout the duo’s impressive and creative career they’ve managed to remain totally original when it comes to songwriting, and this album provides further proof of exactly that. Whether it’s a clattering of thumping drums beaten out by Janet Weiss or an echoing note strung out through a wailing guitar played by Sam Coomes, there is something wildly unique about this band.

Interluding instrumental tracks such as ‘Chrome Duck’ are a cosmic mix of digital tones and 8-bit noise that helps to link the songs together, and it’s these little inventive blips of sound that keep you rolling over from one tune to the next.
Give this vastly interesting album a moment of your time and you’re bound to discover something truly absorbing. We just hope they’re still making their weird and wonderful music in another 20 years time. Who knows what that might sound like..?