ALBUM REVIEW: Invocation / Supplication – Jo Quail
Metal’s favourite cellist has had quite the year, headlining her own UK tour and supporting some giants in the post-rock genre. Now, as the clocks go back and the nights get stormier, she is releasing her own squall with Invocation / Supplication, two three-song cycles that see her team with friends and inspirations to bring even more colour to her cinematic canvas.
It’s a more direct listen than last year’s The Cartographer, on which JO QUAIL’s movements were patient and sprawling. As Macha opens this double-EP, propulsive percussion and Maria Franz’s (of HEILUNG fame) ethereal incantations ground the listener in something attention-grabbing, something in medias res. It is not long before Quail’s trademark layering of instrumentation builds towers of soundscapes, as chunky cello riffs give foundation to climactic motifs. Both halves of the record are inspired by the ‘earthy, primal, and spiritual’ which influence all of Quail’s music, and it can be heard in the rumble of her instrument’s low-end and in the transcendence found when melodies cut through the din with an otherworldly clarity.
Franz’s band are known for their equally profound relationship with the world around them, and on Willow Of All her wailing cries sound like the grief of the entire world while also mimicking the pain of high notes played by bow-on-string. As a solo artist, Quail is generous in her partnerships, and both EPs play to their guest’s strengths. On Baroscyre, Julia MacDonell’s French horn enters into a discomforting conversation with choral voices, playing off each other while battle drums roar underneath. Quail accepts her music is to be interpreted however we wish, and this final third of Invocation is the apocalyptic centrepiece which gives way to the more austere second-half, in which Franz is replaced with Italian vocalist Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari (LEF).
Like the other side of a coin, Supplication is of a similar mood, but with a texture all of its own. Its introduction, The Calling, is stripped back, still and mournful, led by LEF’s lament. The processional nature of these three tracks appears to be making sense of the devastation found in the first three; the combined record’s structure recalls SIGUR ROS’s ( ) in which its mid-point signals a significant change, but one which still feels of a whole. Maestoso, the longest track here, is similarly funereal, complementing the active pain found in Willow Of All with the loss – and relief – of whatever comes next. Closer Kyralaste is its own kind of beast, made up of LEF’s improvised vocals chopped and changed by Quail, which she then composed around.
It is a haunting conclusion to a record which relies on active listening to find meaning in, but is as much a reminder that art is to be felt more than understood. In that sense, Invocation / Supplication is Quail’s most confident body of work yet, capitalising on the momentum of the last couple of years. She is an even more powerful presence in a live setting, where these pieces can continue to take on a life of their own, casting their captivating wave over audiences more used to down-tuned riffs and growling men. However she wound up in the rock and metal sphere is a wonder, but we are all the luckier for it as she continues to go from strength to strength.
Rating: 8/10
Invocation / Supplication is set for release on November 3rd via By Norse Music.
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