When Seefeel started to gain notoriety among college radio DJs and skinny, pale kids after their debut release Quique, traditional rock critics around the globe sighed a collective, worried “Fuck.” Their worry had nothing to do with the music itself, but instead regarded the inevitable onslaught of lesser talents that would soon flood the already low-barrier entry shoegaze market. My Bloody Valentine had opened the gates wide, and, as always, when a “new” musical style (particularly one that does not require much presence or sophisticated musical ability) gets popular, hordes of star-eyed followers will soon follow in suit -- it can sometimes destroy a whole genre. Grunge was mauled by angsty, bass-voiced Eddie Vedder wannabes, while the image of house music will forever be tainted by countless Garage Band teenagers hoping to be the next Oakenfold. Shoegaze, as a genre, was neither necessarily revolutionized nor annihilated by the multitude of artists who followed Seefeel’s example of adding electronic drum loops to cumbersome sonic layers -- but Quique still managed to shine through as a special album, indiscreetly drifting between many musical scenes over the past 14 years.
Originally released by Too Pure/Astralwerks in 1993 and re-released as a two disc Redux in 2007, Quique – at 14 years old – still sits comfortably alongside today’s synth heavy artists like Ulrich Schnauss, Strategy, and Stars of the Lid. Accordingly, the main reasons why Quique, or any enduring album for that matter, still survives are the indescribable, intangible elements that critics have a tough time putting into words, and copycat bands have an even tougher time duplicating. The foreign drones somehow ring familiar; the guitar feedback feels warmer than the now-standard glacial Icelandic variety, and the undemanding, beautiful melodies stop short of haunting, but linger in your head long enough to make you question the meaningfulness of the rest of your musical collection.
Throughout the album, Mark Clifford, Daren Seymour, Sarah Peacock, and Justin Fletcher appear to meld together three seemingly disparate musical approaches. First, on their better-known songs (“Climactic Phase No. 3,” ”Imperial,” “Plainsong”), Seefeel harnesses the spirit of Moondawn-era Klaus Schulze by weaving loopy, fantastic textures with heartening rises and falls, leaving off stylistically where Mouse on Mars and Cornelius eventually pickup. Second, the band infuses their local flavor into ”Polyfusion” and ”Industrious,” with gloomy grooves that probably earned them head-nods from their (pre) grimy British contemporaries, Tricky and Portishead. Third, the band further explores the fringes of the aural universe with dim-washed ambiance like on closing tracks ”Filter Dub” and ”Signals.” The perfect instrumentation and minimalist restraint on the final tracks prove that the indefinable qualities that make this album age so well are actually the result of thousands of knob adjustments on the synths and millimeters of difference in microphone placement. They just made it seems so easy.
Though the members of Seefeel made a few more records and eventually split to pursue separate music careers, Quique remains their ghostly masterpiece. And although we often laugh today at the majority of the early ‘90s musical output, Quique stands proudly alongside Loveless and Dummy as the relevant diamonds in that period’s musical rough.
