Q - The Shave Experiment (Directors Cut)

A Musician's Reset

I often feel that to be an artist, or any kind of creative, is to constantly fight against the feeling that you’re not doing enough. Even if you’re doing a lot or maybe too much, you still feel like what you’re doing isn’t up to par. Eventually you realize you just have to put something out into the world and let it be what it will be. That’s cycle of art.

Sometimes, however, you can take back something that you sent and tweak it a little. Just ask George Lucas. Hell, even Kanye does it all the time. Depending on how the original release went, the tinkering can have a varied affect but sometimes, only sometimes, you get something better.

When I originally heard ‘The Shave Experiment’ EP by Q (not THAT Q) I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. I came to it on the strength of the instant classic ‘Take Me Where Your Heart Is’ and left a little bewildered by the 4 tracks that surrounded it. They weren’t bad songs by any means but by themselves they just didn’t match the same vibe that towered over them with ‘Take Me Where Your Heart Is.’ Happily, in the ‘Directors Cut’ they not only have their space to breath and shine on their own, but they’re surrounded by some new tracks that balance them out and improve the overall experience. As Q says on Track 2 ‘Director’s Cut (Q Talks)’

The first version was a watered-down version. Now it’s a defined version, a re-defined version. It’s a director’s cut.

We start off the album with the track ‘Garage Rooftop’ which is a lovely, romantic trip through dreamy guitar distortions and a driving, almost post-punk baseline while Q sings of a love that can withstand the traumas of the outer world.

Now we've
Been in the middle
Of a war we
Could never handle

But I got you
And you got me
Dancin' on the rooftop
With the lights off
With the moonlight
You take the tears out

This was one of the tracks that fell a little flat for me when it was on the EP with other similar vibes like ‘Wonder’ and ‘My Dear Electra.’ When grouped together I think the slow nostalgia of the tracks side by side overwhelmed their individual strengths. They all have a similar tempo and similar mood, so spacing them out over the course of the album separates them long enough so that you can sink into them in their intended way and let their warm, sorrow and yearning vocals cradle you like they should.

The biggest surprise for me on this release comes in the form of the third track. As much as I absolutely loved the mood of ‘Take Me Where Your Heart Is’ and wished that the other tracks matched it, nothing could have prepared me for the Disco-funk fused jam that is ‘Wonder.’ This song simply slaps with a bass groove reminiscent of prime Brothers Johnson and coming right off the heels of Q’s proclamation that this is the ‘re-defined’ version of ‘The Shave Experiment’ nothing could have set it up better. It’s a musical exclamation that says, ‘You thought you knew what I was about, huh?’

‘If You Care’ is another new track that subtly reshapes the sound of the album, with a steady and hypnotic groove mixed with syncopated percussion that keeps you on your toes, wanting to dance but not quite sure how to. It’s psychedelic and soulful and capped off with a chopped and screwed style deep vocal to round it all home.

Well, if you care you'd come a little closer
Show me now, you can try to be bolder
Love me now, I need to get some closure
And if I could put my head on your shoulder
Well, if you care you’d come a little closer

The track directly following ‘If You Care’ is the one that started it all for me with Q. ‘Take Me Where Your Heart Is.’ I already wrote about it earlier, but it can’t be overstated how good this track is. The steady guitar riff, the chugging drums and yearning vocals make as perfect a track as you can have in the middle of your premier album, and it’s a statement to the rest of the new tracks that this track, while still monolithic in its quality is no longer the Everest of ‘The Shave Experiment.’ It’s a mountain peak among mountain peaks.

I'm so into you, but I don't know where I've been, oh (Oh)
I just want you to, to take me where your heart is
And you're made wonderful
I would never want you to feel like you could never be right
Love is all you want, I would never do you wrong
Hold it down and give me some time

‘The Cry Out’ is another track with a fun blend of Prince-like vocals blended over a woozy instrumental that comes close to something from an early Cure album and followed up by ‘Break (Rest)’ which calls to memory some of the instrumental break downs of the Coctaeu Twins (there's a reason I included it on my Dream-pop Playlist). Both tracks bolster ‘My Dear Electra’ which, as I mentioned before, was one of the originals from the EP but now fits perfectly like a grander piece of the puzzle.

I would run away from things
I switched my face beneath my wings
It's been a waste of time for me
'Cause I would stall for you and me
I'm standing here inside my heart
And life has been a proper storm
But now I'm here, a broken soul
I need to find my home with you

Rounding out the last few tracks we have ‘Shave’ which is a strange but fun enough track with the altered vocals making a full return and the final track ‘It Won’t Get Ya’ where we get another dance number with some Funkadelic style backing vocals chanting the chorus. A nice closer that brings everything to a joyful but funky close.

‘The Shave Experiment (Director's Cut)’ did everything that I was hoping when I was initially taken with ‘Take Me Where Your Heart Is’ and managed to surprise me several times along the way. There's enough throwback sounds and interesting mash-up ideas going on here that keep you guessing and blend into a nice mix of wistful yearning and funk filled grooves. It's hard to find someone who has the same spin on music as Q does, and now that we have a fuller scope of what his vision can amount to, I’m really looking forward to what he will do next.