Electronica: QRT's Love for Lightning

It’s been nearly two years since I reviewed QRT’s (Kurt Bolianatz) EP, Faardte. I described it as “ambient, atmosphere, sound poems” combining QRT’s Scandinavian roots with German Electronica sensibilities. QRT is now back with a full-length album, Love for Lightning, and the sound poems are back, too.

The story told in the street shuffle of “Go to the Gym” relies on some samples of a conversation that goes something like this: “My wife wanted me to go the gym/Tanning booths, said we got steam, we got Jacuzzis, massages.” This track hits like the opening score of an international intrigue spy movie with fat keyboard bips like Spacer and soundtrack arcs like Mocean Worker. Many of the other tracks don’t jam-and-groove like this one, although “Tankout” has a tribal drum rhythm from some long lost electronica African tribe.

As far as the sound poetry’s art here, the title track stands out as creating the depth of watching a storm come across the sky. QRT offers up the lightning in “Love for Lightning” and not the thunder. A subdued keyboard leads your eyes to look out a window and see lightning flashing on the horizon. As the song shifts, you are traveling by auto surrounded by the whole sky flashes and cloud-to-sky bolts. When the doom bass chords come, you’re suddenly left on the train platform after midnight alone to face the oncoming storm. Yet, a chorus-like sound in the final moments seems to offer a glimmer of hope that you’re really just on the couch looking out your front window.

Love for Lightning is released by Exploded View Records in association with Irritant Records. Distribution by dotshop.se. Thanks to Kurt’s brother, Trond, for sending the review copy.