Pretty the Quick Black Eyes
Pretty the Quick Black Eyes. What the hell does it mean? Nothing. It’s just word association. Pure imagery, painting the picture of a place where the skies are always gray and windy and the air brisk and autumnal, if not downright dark and wintry. This band is the new project of former Mineral guitarist Scott McCarver, the one refugee who didn’t land in the Gloria Record, and it reflects an unhealthy fixation with Disintegration-era Cure. Where the Gloria Record strips away the layers of bombastic guitar that enveloped the music of early Austin emo heroes Mineral, PTQBE revels in it on this four-song debut EP. “Bullets to the Moon” shows off not only the delayed arpeggio chords, but also the whispery, arctic vocals of Disintegration cuts like “Plainsong.” “Fragile, Hearing Whispers of the Sun” sounds cloyingly like Disintegration‘s title track, but comes to life as McCarver’s forceful chords clang behind a Peter Hook-style bassline. On “Tanks of Bethlehem,” the Cure similarities aren’t as obvious, McCarver giving PTQBE their own voice with a roaring wall of screeching, symphonic fury the likes of which would have Robert Smith cowering under his cowl. Sure, Pretty the Quick Black Eyes is derivative, but so is Interpol. Nobody gives a damn anymore, as long as it’s the right kind of derivative.
This article appears in February 21 • 2003.