Quantum Split - America (2017)




Written by Robert Elgin, posted by blog admin

Blue-eyed, passionate soul merged with intricately arranged, old school rock n’ roll is the order of the day on Quantum Split’s latest EP, America.  These New York City prowlers have a sound the scowls like Ol’ Scratch himself, swings like a master jazz musician and grooves akin to the hard retro rock that only a precious few bands can pull off properly anymore.  Soulful is an understatement here but that’s exactly what this music is.  It knows how to reach into your chest and restart your heart.  These two tracks feel alive and thusly ignite the listener’s senses in a flurry of dizzying riffs, vocal acrobatic and tough work from the rhythm section. 

Opening things up, the EP title track is a storm of melodic, plucky guitar strum, near acoustic brilliance, lush bass grooves that keep your attention and the centerpiece singing of Soleil Laurent.  They lull you in, making you think are A-okay before hitting you with a power-chord riff straight from the dark side.  The arranging here is simply masterful; each progression quietly ebbing, slowly building and then giving it full force in thunderous rock n’ roll climaxes.  Simply put, you will be hard-pressed to find a band that rocks this hard and pays such intensive attention to the melodic details.  “Runaway” is good too but the fact that it has to follow the title cut makes for a tough task.  It follows the same pattern of melodic choruses, standout vocal harmonies and brushes of mighty volume that make you surrender to its charms.  It’s not quite as well arranged as the first song yet it is highly listenable and quite good in its own right.  If anything America is consistent.  This band knows their sound inside and out, enabling them to write tunes that all keep within a similar mindset.   

There are a lot of bands out there these days.  It seems that over time, less and less of them are standing out.  That’s a problem that Quantum Split doesn’t have.  They sound like themselves and no one else.  It will be interesting to see how their songwriting plays out on a longer form release but they are off to a fine start.  America is custom made for real rock fans.  The kind that you don’t find listening to the radio anymore as they search the farthest reaches of the Internet for the next big deal; Quantum Split are the big deal that they are hoping to find. 

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