Rafter Roberts, the singer, guitarist, bassist and moog player of the band Rafter, was inspired to create the 2011 album “Quiet Storm” while on a U.S. tour with Nathan Hubbard, the band’s drummer. The two listened to black metal demo tapes and felt moved by the music’s sincere albeit over-the-top auditory explosions. The result was an album seemingly dedicated to existentialism and the bombastic power of the human mind.
“Quiet Storm” was released by Asthmatic Kitty Records in January 2011. The indie label is a famous host to other acts, including Sufjan Stevens, Castanets, Chris Schlarb and others. It was offered primarily as a digital MP3 album through the group’s Bandcamp.com website. Buyers were allowed to pay whatever amount they wished to download the music, a strategy popularized by Radiohead’s during the release of their “In Rainbows.”
I consider Rafter’s newest release to be my favorite album based on the mere fact that I never, never buy music in this new age of free internet streaming, but was satisfied enough with the sounds that I was willing to pay for them. The amount I put out was negligible when considering the cost of production and all other fees within the music industry, but again, I typically pay nothing at all.
And what did I find so attractive about “Quiet Storm”? There’s the constant fuzzed-out noise that backs all 12 songs that, though nearly white noise, somehow creates a perfect backdrop for the rest of the sounds. There’s the juxtaposition of the robot-stomping effects of opening song, “Convenience or Death” and the following track, “Fire Fire, Water, Water” which is ridiculously cheery and repetitive. The album progresses with a bipolar quality of heaviness versus pop. All of the songs have the potential to become stuck in your head at any given time which, though bothersome when you find yourself humming the same five notes throughout the day, is a good sign of staying power for the music.
“Quiet Storm” has a notably darker quality than some of Rafter’s previous albums. Indeed, the album title is quite descriptive in that regard the tracks are comprised of fuzzed-out machinations that speak to tracks names like “Innocence, in a Sense,” “Sick Princess” and “U Used Me Up.” Compare this to other albums called “Animal Feelings,” “Sweaty Magic” and “Sex Death Cassette,” and you’ll see that this slightly amorphous band has taken a cerebral turn away from extroverted hyperactivity towards introspection and hurt. It is a change worth pursuing for the interested listener.