Thursday, October 28, 2010

Quiet Steps - Think Aloud











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During my 3 years and a half stay in Brisbane, I have managed to witness Quiet Steps live performances at least 15-20 times. I’ve seen them played a house show, a warehouse, a “proper” music venue, you name it. I’ve seen them at their good and bad days. I guess I would like to say that I have gotten quite attached to their music and their live shows, but I’ll try not to be too biased here.

Quiet Steps released their first ep in 2007. It was fairly well-received, I think. I do not know how many copies they sold, but their shows around 2007-2008 always had at least quite a few people showing interest towards the band. I recall their set at No Culture Festival II and La Quiete show as being quite memorable. The way things were might have had something to do with similar style bands like James Dean and Drowned Out being around at the time.

Fast forward a few years, Quiet Steps finally released their first ever full length, entitled Think Aloud. Some of the songs on this album have been in their setlist for quite sometime now. Songs like “Assimilate” and “One Breath” were introduced as early as 2007/2008. They had a handful of songs ready by early 2009. I even remember paying a visit on one of their mixing sessions.

You’re probably wondering what took them so long to release the album. Well, I don’t know all the details behind the delay. I do know that they were trying to figure out how to release the album, if any label who would be interested to put it out, looking at their options, etc etc, that sort of thing. Maybe it had taken them longer that it should, then again maybe not. It’s their decision after all.

On to the good stuff now, Quiet Steps decided to go the DIY route and self-released their new full-length. They also urge people to download the album on the internet for free, which have been put up by the band. I believe the band is running a limited batch of hand-made packaged CD-R of Think Aloud, so get in touch with the band quickly if you’re keen for a copy!

How is Think Aloud compared to their debut EP? You can tell it’s still the same band. However, it’s easy to tell that the band has progressed a lot from their debut. The songwriting is still as good as ever while new ideas are being introduced. Clean vocals are present in the middle part of “Measure Reaction” (one of the very highlights of the album for me); “Exclusion” has an amazing danceable instrumental bit at the end, and “Surrounded” is a fast punk number running at 24 seconds. I also feel obliged to tell you that there is a lot of killer riffs on this album. The bass in particular stands out with its jazzy and yet aggressive style of playing.

I don’t know much about production, but it’s noticeably better than their ep. It’s not as clean and produced. It sounds fuller and denser. The vocals sounded as if the mic was put on one side of the room and the band at the other.

Think Aloud is an excellent first full-length by Quiet Steps. I like the direction they took with the album and the amount of creativity they put into it. At this point, they don’t really sound like anyone. I feel like comparison to Sinaloa isn’t doing them justice anymore. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another three years for another album.

















Quiet Steps - Think Aloud

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