SQE is the project of J. Greco, an American musician who also works under the name The Fruitless Hand. Greco already released three other works under the names SQE and SQI (smooth quality excrement/instrument) on which he collaborated with Ure Thrall (amongst others).
The previous releases focussed entirely on — slightly psychedelic — dark ambient drones. This new CD called The abyss stares back also contains these elements, but introduces a lot of other elements as well. The CD is a lot more ‘poppy’ and ‘folky’ than its predecessors. Most of the tracks are not ambient at all, but songs with female vocals, beats etcetera. The strange combination of drones, psychedelica, folk and pop make this into a highly original, and surprisingly coherent work.
A comparison, if any is possible, quickly leads to the likes of Current 93 or Nurse with Wound. But this release really defies any such comparison, it is simply very original and very good.
