GOLD RECORDS // MUSIC // House of Hayduk - City of Quartz

2012

House of Hayduk is a band apparently formed for the sake of this one-off record – a 2012 Record Store Day exclusive – the enigmatically titled City of Quartz. Comprised of musicians from established bands/creative outfits (Billy Gould from Faith No More; Benjamin Jared Miller from HEALTH; Charles Hayward of This Heat; Mads Heldtberg of Düreforsög; Peter Peter from SODS; Timba Harris of Estradasphere; Danish producer/multi-instrumentalist Anders Trentemøller and Dean Hurley, sound engineer on the films of one of my favourite humans, David Lynch), HoH have some real musical pedigree, and this record stands as a testament to the electric results which can arise from somewhat surprising ‘super group’ collaborations; a mesmerising if initially challenging peek into the abyss.

The four tracks (‘N’, ‘S’, ‘E’ and ‘W’) are dense, layered affairs as one might expect from those involved. Tracks undulate and mutate, sometimes with wilful abruptness; ‘N’ goes from urgent drums and throbbing electronics to swooning, noirish dark-alley brass to Zeppelin-esque twelve-string acoustic guitar within its first two minutes, before morphing into a moody, swaying reverb guitar pattern which, appropriately, would fit nicely into a Lynch movie (although City of Quartz is produced by Mads Heldtberg, Dean Hurley’s stylistic fingerprints are all over the album. It frequently sounds like an alternate soundtrack to Lost Highway or the latest season of Twin Peaks).

To describe the album (EP?) track by track would be both difficult and not very interesting, only in the sense that each of the four offerings here cover so much musical ground at such a breathless pace that a write-up of that nature would become merely a rote description of ‘this happens, then this, then this’, spoiling all the surprises along the way. There are so many ideas being packed into this release that it’s a fairly breakneck experience at points; at least on first listen, it feels as though these guys were just so enthused to be working together, so creatively energised, that the result can seem intermittently scattershot and unfocused.

However, repeat visits reveal even more sonic and instrumental depths belying a careful (and expertly produced) craft, as well as something of a sly sense of humour. ‘S’ ends on a loop, the needle revolving around the same groove over and over, blasting out the same drum fill and twanged guitar chord for eternity (or, you know, until you take the stylus off). It’s as though House of Hayduk are seeing how long it will take for someone to notice that the song has in fact ended, rather than sitting there for several minutes waiting for the ‘release’ from a repetition which will not end. The trouble is, City of Quartz is so engrossing that it’s easy to imagine that actually happening. At first, I thought the record might be scratched; then I realised with a slightly embarrassed grin that their joke had worked on me.

The musicianship here is really impressive on a technical level, incorporating jazzy time signatures and, as mentioned, flitting between ideas with abandon; a rhythm is introduced for maybe a couple of bars before distorting into something entirely new, HoH displaying admirable disregard for the idea of letting the listener get too comfortable, as they barrel on in a relentless drive to cram as much as they can into something they obviously knew would be a limited edition, one off thing (although I admit that, as much as I actually enjoy the record’s ADHD nature, one of its best moments arrives on ‘W’ as Gould locks into a heavy, groovy bassline, and keeps it going as the drums and ambient electronics ratchet up in intensity; the result is infectiously hip-swinging while maintaining a vaguely jittery, nervous atmosphere). The general sound of the whole thing is frantic, dark and rain-swept; ominous synths, distortion and ambient sound colliding with reverb-laden guitar and a restless, pulsing rhythm section; like flipping between signals broadcast from some alternate, shadowy dimension.

If I sound like a wanker trying to describe the ‘musical stylings’ of City of Quartz, it’s only because it’s so difficult to paint a picture with mere words which will do justice to the atmosphere created by it. It’s such a surprising joy that this even exists; that there was enough time in the respective schedules of those who came together to make it. As a piece of musical experimentation, it’s fearsomely ambitious, dramatic, utterly beguiling stuff. As an example of musical collaboration between artists from different outfits, it’s vitally inspired; the sound of inspiration and free reign.

It won’t be for everybody (what is?), but those who want something genuinely left-field and unpredictable in their music would do well to hunt this down (and even though it was an exclusive release for RSD 2012, there are - at the time of writing - copies going for peanuts on Discogs. Some people just don’t appreciate when they’ve got golds on their hands!). It may seem a bit impenetrable at first, but once you learn how to keep up, the City of Quartz is somewhere absolutely worth getting lost in.