Just last weekend, Simon Scott performed behind the cymbals for Slowdive at Best Kept Secret festival in The Netherlands. A even better kept secret might be Scott’s solo project Three Quarter Skies, which combines the static and hiss of Suicide with the more familiar shoegaze-leanings, fermented into something entirely distinct.
New song “Crows” – out via Sonic Cathedral (which houses artists as diverse as Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, Whitelands and Dawn Chorus) – strikes as an unprocessed lament of grief, almost like a post-industrial version of latter-day Talk Talk. The metallic clang and skittering beats creep up front and center, with the vocals and sonorous melodies hidden behind billows of mist. Grief rarely introduces itself as something fully formed and poetic, if at all. It’s a stinging and intrusive feeling, so it makes sense that the song hides behind these curtains of discord. “It is vivid and surreal,” Scott says of “Crows”. “It’s inspired by witnessing my parents die, basically. It’s the most personal song I’ve ever written.”
Dave Pearce of Flying Saucer Attack helped mix the music, after becoming fast friends with Scott when the latter gave the group’s seminal LP Further a big shoutout. The two quickly decided the creative fruits were fertile enough for an entire album, which is said to come out later this year.
Watch the video by Chris Tomsett below, and find “Crows” on streaming outlets.
Follow Three Quarter Skies on Instagram, Twitter and Bandcamp.