Let’s listen to an album…
Eleven tracks. 37 minutes and 20 seconds worth of music. QRTRs’ 2025 release “Ondas” is a fresh take on what an electronic album can be. If you know me, you know I’m a self-proclaimed ‘genre-hater’. And that may be why I like this album so much. She delicately dances between influences from phrase to phrase, track to track. Her roots in composing for films really shines through- with a focus on emotion rather than standard musicality, creating soundscapes for each moment in time.
“Put on A Show” really welcomes you in to the experience: it starts off very ethereal before warping into something scarier; pitching down, introducing the lower notes and bass, and a reverberating dissonance to the melodic crooning vocals and airy intro.
“Lets Get Used” opens to a real body warm-up style track- bouncy, breaky, still somehow a whisper. Lightweight, almost minimal despite a heavy twangy bassline.
“Alegria” is where I really started to love this album, introducing the more dance-forward upswing style beats, and hints at the baile-funk and distinctly trap elements that’ll rear their head more further through the album. Pair it with the following “Nao Fala” and you’ve got peak album sequencing. Dancey and less introspective feeling than the rest of the album, she flicks between Portuguese and English in a playfully dizzying way.
“Amber Glass” returns to the vibe we started with; bell tone melody, staccato stutters fading into froglike croaks. Just absolutely getting freaky and having a nice breather for our midway point. I’d go as far to say it’s eerie- like being in a cemetery after hours.
“Self-Sabotage” brings back the sad breaks. Very early 2000s- blending key trip hop elements with jungle elements. If Clairo had a drum machine rebrand, this is the song she would make. Haunting vocals flittering in stereo between the ears-melancholy, crooning, and sweet. It may be my favourite.
“Shell Call” is a nice spot to make a cup of tea- a beautiful instrumental break on the album. It’s almost like when you wake up to an alarm and it’s permeated into your sleep-self, becoming a part of your dream for ten minutes already. It hits a crescendo abruptly and warbles and wobbles back into silence.
“Big Smile”. Bass hits you straight away, no intro necessary for the unrelenting beat. Very club forward, with a slightly meandering beat. It just chugs along and keeps the head bopping the whole way through.
Notes so far: “Ondas”, as a whole, is very unpaceable in the standard terms of genre- too housey to be techno, too breakey to be house, too ambient to be either. It’s a refreshing mix- she’s been called “art house film composer meets basement rave” and I think that’s a spot-on descriptor: but I need to stipulate that it’s at the hours between 5-7AM at the ambient rave.
“I Guess I Don’t” feels super nostalgic for an unpinpointed reason- maybe the heavy “Go” by Moby vibes. It’s clear the level of skill she has at creating interesting sonic journeys that evolve over the course of the track yet feel like they’ve been playing peek-a-boo the whole way through. The last minute is my fave in terms of “wrapping it up” and creating a cohesion with the seemingly previously contrasted layers with a thick bass. Almost starts as a sad ballad but somehow ends up hopeful and uplifting- almost oxymoronic considering she sings “I guess I don’t/ have self control”.
Moving to our second last track, “Bruise”, I’m getting a big Chariots of Fire vibe from this continual strummed synth intro and I don’t hate it one bit! As I’ve come to expect, the sound quickly takes an unexpected turn with a wubby bass contrasting the angelic vocals and slightly achy glittery accents.
And to close the album- “No Land For Miles”. Where the art-house starts to peak out, featuring distorted piano and an Emancipator style ambient feature. Feels like it could be a totally live performance, and I quite enjoy that unrehearsed feeling it invokes. Hearing her leaning into her technical ability for an outro is a true masterclass on how to wrap everything up in a neat little bow.
Overall, I think this album was a fantastic experience, and one that should be listened to start to finish (consecutively, of course – shuffling would ruin the magic).
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