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MASHA QRELLA, "UNSOLVED REMAINED"
Aside from her quirky, yet laid back style of songwriting andperformance, the thing that stands out on Berlin-basedsinger/songwriter Masha Qrella's second solo recording, Unsolved Remained, is the distinct care and quality put into its production. Her 2003 debut, Luck,had been recorded mostly in secret at her home with little outsidehelp.
Morr Music
Her peculiar neo-folk/pop piecemeal brand of instrumentalsongwriting, brimming with pauses, false starts and isolating ofinstruments, had fallen short of attaining a certain level of adhesion;her first recording as a solo artist and not having a bevy of supportbehind her (remember: secret recording). The experience of recording adebut disc and subsequent performances over the past year-and-a-halfhave solidified Qrella's songwriting style and certainty as a soloartist, which are apparent on this new release. Again, recorded andmixed at "Villa Qrella," a more knowledgeable approach in studioproduction gives more conviction to the disc's eleven tracks. The titletrack's subtle electronic treatments, drawn out minor key chord changesand bright acoustic guitar lead off Unsolved Remained. Qrella'slyrics reflect on a past relationship; her vocals retaining theirdelicate and breathy characteristics as the electric guitar powerchords ring out over controlled feedback. The heavy bass end andoffbeat guitar stabs of "I Can't Tell" play against shifting andbroken-up rhythm programming, choppy vocal lines and various synthlayers. The whole thing eventually settles into a unique country/reggaemanipulation (!!) completed by the addition of flutes. "DestinationVertical," by far the coolest track on the disc, is based on a synthand steady machine-beat pulsing track by Berlin-based electronicaudio/video crew, Rechenzentrum. Qrella's addition of descendingvibrato-laden guitar melody, power chords and lyrics that conveyimagery of being high atop the snow-covered mountain peaks have thistrack yearning to be busted out by club DJs in the regulation 12"format. As her first release for the Morr label, Qrella's fashion ofvocal electro-pop is in good company with like-minded artists such asStyrofoam, the Go Find, Tarwater and Lali Puna. With any luck, she'llsoon be as prominent a figure as her label mates.
Morr Music
Her peculiar neo-folk/pop piecemeal brand of instrumentalsongwriting, brimming with pauses, false starts and isolating ofinstruments, had fallen short of attaining a certain level of adhesion;her first recording as a solo artist and not having a bevy of supportbehind her (remember: secret recording). The experience of recording adebut disc and subsequent performances over the past year-and-a-halfhave solidified Qrella's songwriting style and certainty as a soloartist, which are apparent on this new release. Again, recorded andmixed at "Villa Qrella," a more knowledgeable approach in studioproduction gives more conviction to the disc's eleven tracks. The titletrack's subtle electronic treatments, drawn out minor key chord changesand bright acoustic guitar lead off Unsolved Remained. Qrella'slyrics reflect on a past relationship; her vocals retaining theirdelicate and breathy characteristics as the electric guitar powerchords ring out over controlled feedback. The heavy bass end andoffbeat guitar stabs of "I Can't Tell" play against shifting andbroken-up rhythm programming, choppy vocal lines and various synthlayers. The whole thing eventually settles into a unique country/reggaemanipulation (!!) completed by the addition of flutes. "DestinationVertical," by far the coolest track on the disc, is based on a synthand steady machine-beat pulsing track by Berlin-based electronicaudio/video crew, Rechenzentrum. Qrella's addition of descendingvibrato-laden guitar melody, power chords and lyrics that conveyimagery of being high atop the snow-covered mountain peaks have thistrack yearning to be busted out by club DJs in the regulation 12"format. As her first release for the Morr label, Qrella's fashion ofvocal electro-pop is in good company with like-minded artists such asStyrofoam, the Go Find, Tarwater and Lali Puna. With any luck, she'llsoon be as prominent a figure as her label mates.
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