Q4U :: Q1 Deluxe Edition 1980-1983 (Dark Entries)

Darkened sounds from an island of long winters and encroaching gloom.

After a short pressing plant delay Dark Entries final entry in their women of synth wave series arrives. Q4U hail from Iceland and are, despite some male members, the apex of Dark Entries she -synth series, closing the pyramid with Q1 Deluxe Edition 1980-1983.

The driving force of “Böring” opens. The track tears out of the traps with scorched chords and slicing vocals. A post-punk edge is immediately on show, the original band members brandishing guitars and analogue equipment with an angularity and bravado. Tracks flash by, speckled in the remnants of last night’s debauchery. Moonlit melodramatics course through the record, the late sessions of “Tískufrík” brokered into the heartache of “Why.” As the album develops English melds with Icelandic as the lyrical language of choice. Guitars grow in importance as Q4U’s punk protégé grows into the maestro. “Draugasaga” thrashes with a brawling energy, guttural and angst-ridden. “Skemmtistaður” invades with dagger shaped synth lines boring down against mechanic beats and banshee vocals. That energy penetrates the album to the close. “Turinnin” percolates with the thrust of pistons and inhuman visage of the frozen tundra. The finale is the pain peppered pangs of “Family,” a lead out of distortion and twisting larynxes.

Q4U bring the trilogy full circle. Their sound combines elements of both other entrants in this celebration, Q4U having the rawness of Kitchen & Plastic Spoons alongside the analogue intrigue of Belaboris. Darkened sounds from an island of long winters and encroaching gloom. Accomplished work from the dedicated audio archaeologists at Dark Entries.

Q1 Deluxe Edition 1980-1983 is available on Dark Entries. [Release page]