February 23, 2018 - First World Records
Quiet Dawn has released his new EP Human Being: The Short Story of a Reed with First World Records, the London based label that saw the release of the Parisian’s debut album. Will Galland (Quiet Dawn) has built on his multifaceted roots. His latest effort of an opera atop organic and abstract percussion. The EP conceptualizes a reed’s desire to become human. Join me as I try to peel back the layers of broken beats and jazz-hop in search of this story.
The opening track ‘Human’ very much employs the cinematic crescendo implying awakening. It'd be easier to enjoy if I didn't know the aim of this album. The narrative pitch feels like a pretentious attempt to elevate what's already present. The superfluous thematics of the album may be better labeled as a meditation, better still not labeled at all. Galland interlaces human vocals and early synths underscored by tribal beats. The result is hypnotic, even binaural. It's nice—on its own. Big movements span several of the tracks, 'Human' being no exception. The song feigns interludes and outros, comes back with more bombast. It ends with simpering violins.
When Galland is confident enough to experiment with sparseness, vivid atmospheres emerge. Simple rim taps and modest jazz piano bubble up from distorted atmospherics in 'The Reed.' I'd be willing to call this one a thematic landing. Again, without the narrative synopsis, the EP is a series of well-crafted, if unadventurous musical vignettes.
Moody and sexy as a pulp Western, 'Planet' is a nice slow dance that I'd love to last a little longer. But the EP moves along to 'Passion and Anger,' which feels triter than any of its surrounding tracks. The track is shapeless and jazzy without any of jazz's risks. 'Passion and Anger' does little but to distract from the pleasant trances. Despite myself, the promise of story keeps me listening. I have hope I may make sense of the music. It keeps me listening for the reed's desire to become human. I guess the reed is watching humans do their thing, and it's alarmed. I don't know. The reed seems human enough as it is. The song's back half, which I assume is when passion turns to anger employs all the melodrama of “O Fortuna!” Without any of the actual movement.
This is a little funny, because the next song ‘Risk It,’ does little to advance the theme. Don't get me wrong, it's a pleasant interlude, and does well to steer the EP back into an engaging busy work groove. That's the height of this EP. The summit is short-lived. 'Being' immediate re-plummets into elevator jazz, inoffensively rambling to an overlong outro.
Occasionally, Galland blends his plethora of influences into a soft atmospheric track. At times beautiful and meditative. More often than not Human Being is overwrought with what I project onto the EP and Galland as insecurity.
Human Being: The Short Story of a Reed is the work of a skilled craftsman unsure of exactly what he wants to craft. Rather than build a story, Galland has overstocked his music with elements. The last-ditch effort to call this EP a narrative feels like a hustle to compensate for a lack of direction. ⛰️