Quiet Marauder Releases 30 Song Concept Album 'The Crack And What It Meant'

Following on from their 111-song debut album, MEN (2013), and its considerably shorter follow-up, 11 Shades Of Love (2015), Quiet Marauder's third full album The Crack And What It Meant is released on the 26th of April on Bubblewrap Collective is a conceptual narrative collaboration with Mathias Kom of Canadian indie-pop wordsmiths The Burning Hell.

The Crack And What It Meant describes the emergence of a 'Crack' in time and space in the rural suburbs of Kent and the subsequent social panics, economic posturing, divisional blame games and global belief systems that arrive as a consequence. Narrated by the deep drawl of Kom, the album's 30 tracks veer between short War Of The World synthscapes, pop-folk balladry, post-ironic show tunes and shuffling indie-rock; all tied together by the multiple underlying storylines. These include the death (and rebirth) of science, mass media antagonists, the ambivalent progress of global capitalism, the opening (and closure) of The Crack's Costa Coffee franchise and the rise (and fall) of tramp-turned-soothsayer Daniel alongside his burgeoning, prospering belief system. Band leader Simon M. Read explains some of the decision-making process:

"We wanted to create a story that, while more or less making sense in its own right, could be metaphorically applied elsewhere. The writing process has been ongoing for about four years and it started as a really convoluted break-up album but, even more weirdly, has become just as applicable to Brexit, political division, absolutism and the distrust of expertise. It got quite heavy. And confusing. We had to research economic glossaries and government spending on tanks. And Kent-based tourist attractions - big props to Westgate Gardens!"

Intertwining the complex high-concepts and broad instrumentation of Arcade Fire, with the warm, spiky melodicism of The Wave Pictures and the wide-eyed, quick-witted lyricism of Vivian Stanshall, The Crack And What It Meant will be released on 26th April 2019 as a limited edition CD with illustrated booklet and cut-out sleeve.

Tracklisting

It Arrived In Silence

The Discovery

The Wheel's First Inertia

The Panic

A Bit Too Familiar

Wouldn't This Make A Great Episode Of..?

Economics Of Opportunity

The Executive Summary

We Need More Signage And Merchandise

Ministry Of Defence

Sheesh! The Military Are Expensive

Logic Chases Tail

What Happened To Science?

Let's not Talk About The Future

The Word On The Street

How To Make A Million Truths

17. The Birth Of Daniel

18. Daniel Dreams Of Other Dimensions

19. Revolutions In Religion

20. The Old Faith Was Misplaced

21. The New Believers

22. Widespread Reportage

23. We Came In Droves...

24. Science Steps Forth

25. And Then Empiricism Said 'No'

26. The Stragglers

27. I Came Here to cure my baldness

(But All I Got Was This T-shirt)

28. Rusty Signs, Dwindling Crowds

29. Blessed Are The Discredited

30. The Crack And What It Meant

The album will be preceded by singles The Discovery and What Happened To Science? In March 2019 and will be launched in Cardiff's Tiny Rebel on the 24th of June with a UK tour following alongside The Burning Hell.

Tour Dates

June 24th - Cardiff - Tiny Rebel
June 25th - Brighton - Hope and Ruin
June 26th - Nottingham - Albert's
June 27th - Manchester - The Deaf Institute
June 28th - Bristol - The Louisiana
June 30th - London - The Lexington