Carré Callaway snarls and screeches her way through Cold Daggers, the first song on Queen Kwong’s debut, ‘Get A Witness’, sounding something like the love child of Karen O and Lux Interior. But on a record produced by the notoriously spiky Joe Cardamone, he of The Icarus Line, you’d expect no less.
The unrelenting beat and fuzzed out guitars of Newt, reminiscent of Queens Of The Stone Age, continue its visceral tone, further enhanced by Callaway’s sensual drawl. The album’s title track steals the show, with wailing guitar and haunting piano draped across slow-build percussion.
Given that the record was improvised from scratch in the studio, Callaway’s lyrics are surprisingly profound: “You’re no martyr, just ‘cos you chose to stay on a sinking ship.”
Love Me, a more traditional ballad, represents an odd sequencing choice, halting the momentum the record had begun to gather at the halfway stage.
Red Devil thankfully returns to the much missed sleaze and Purrfiction has Callaway letting loose over four minutes of raw emotion that are plugged directly into the record's off the cuff origins. It leads beautifully into Bells On, which is Callaway’s final unravelling: “You know exactly how to fuck, fuck me over!”
‘Get A Witness’ shows real potential. But its improvisational roots, notably the one song a day principle, have resulted in the band selling themselves short a little, simply by not having the time to unlock it completely. From Callaway’s live performances it’s clear she has the talent and temperament to become a frontwoman of Queen Adreena proportions, but she perhaps needs to allow herself more time in the studio to harness it.
Queen Kwong Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon August 31 2015 - LONDON Old Blue Last
Tue December 15 2015 - YORK York Duchess
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