Quartershade
Machines to Live In

Quartershade’s ‘Machines to Live In’ is something novel; music with real emotion. Good vocals and professional music are clear from the beginning of the first track.

Opening with a memorable riff, ‘Swim’ is a very anthemic song with a voice that compliments the slow, steady music. The slowness of lyrics creates anticipation that gives depth to the song. A marching drum beat builds up to a powerful, commanding chorus with the word ‘swim’ giving it the catchiness. Consistent drumming and guitar makes the song more familiar and accessible while the effort put into the vocals gives emotion to a tune that may otherwise be slow and depressing.

Simple lyrics make ‘Swim’ an easily accessible track that could easily be a big hit, and with no build up or fading out leading to an abrupt, unexpected ending, this no frills effort is certainly good to go.

The energetic ‘Stay With Me’ is probably my least favourite of the three tracks on offer. Opening with a high-quality guitar riff and a voice that just seems to get more and more unusual, these wavering vocals coupled with the sophisticated lyrics, underline the song’s solemn tone. Despite being a toe tapping tune, the guitar solo for ‘Stay With Me’ is a bit of a let down because of its lack of power and emotion. Once more, an unexpected ending is on the cards, only this time its as if the lyrics weren’t quite finished in time for the final cut as ‘You and.’ leaves you wondering who/what/why/where etc.

The most upbeat and energetic song on the demo, ‘Capetown’, is opened with catchy rhyming lyrics about a ‘shooting star’. More effort is put into the vocals to give it that extra power with a strong and, as usual, unexpected ending that seems to be the band’s trademark. An added rawness to the vocals makes the song seem a little monotonous at times but they make up for it with an influential chorus proving again that they are talented musicians.