fiction and creative non-fiction from Brennan Quenneville
We’re going to take a little break from our regular stream of weirdly introspective memoirs and utter nonsense to recognize the best albums from 2022. Are these albums definitively the best of the year? Yes. Because I write on the internet, where opinions are facts. Albums are presented in alphabetical order. 11:11 by Pinegrove At a very difficult time, I [...]
When I reviewed OWEL’s third full-length, Paris, in March of 2019, I could feel the energy of springtime humming throughout the album. It’s bright and vibrant and delicate and brash. It makes me want to go outside, to bloom and breathe, if you’ll accept the cross-scene metaphor. A year later spring was canceled. I packed up my [...]
The Queue is a recurring excuse for me to talk about songs or albums in short form. I'm bending that formula a bit today to discuss The Peer Pleasure Podcast which I've been binging lately. Let’s investigate a few of my favorite episodes. Ep. 147 – Bobby Darling (Gatsbys American Dream) The first episode of [...]
The fast approaching end of 2019 means not only the end of the year but also of the decade. Ten years ago, in a similar situation, I was new to blogging and felt obligated to make clear that my decade-spanning retrospective was no more than one man's personal opinion. In 2019, there's no need for [...]
There's a charming seasonality to OWEL's catalog. Back in 2013, the New Jersey band's self-titled debut arrived in the dead of winter with washed-out colors and a song literally warning that "death awaits in the snow." Their sophomore LP, dear me, was released in the fall of 2016 and is soaked in the fading light and [...]
This post was originally included in a group discussion at Type In Stereo. 5. Letters to Lost Loves by Tyson Motsenbocker. There were a handful of albums contending for this final spot, from PUP’s rambunctious The Dream Is Over to Panic! At the Disco’s surprisingly enjoyable Death of A Bachelor but I’m going to go with a more subdued choice in Letters to [...]
Goddamn if this album isn't beautiful. From the moment it begins, with three twinkling strikes of a xylophone, Owel's dear me is a gorgeous, sweeping ode to the power of beauty in music. Each song across the album's 66-minute runtime brims with tenderness and passion; when, for instance, vocalist Jay Sakong sings the titular syllables of 'Pale Soft Light' during [...]
In the game room of a bar in north Jersey, I watched as three people casually discussed the merits of astrology on a couch in the corner, four friends exchanged playful barbs and wagers as they undertook an epic game of foosball, and one tall guy in a tight fitting white t-shirt double-fisted neon pistols [...]
Only a few short weeks ago, I offered up Gates' You Are All You Have Left to Fear and Owel's I've Seen Colors (released under Owel's former band name, Old Nick) as the best albums that 2012 had to offer. I also promised that we'd be revisiting Owel soon, for their upcoming full length record. Well, that time has come. This [...]
It is news to approximately zero people that music is not made in a vacuum. What may actually be news to a few people is the important role that community can potentially play in fostering a band's sound. There's a reason that we associate Seattle with grunge, St. Louis with the blues, and Detroit with that Motown [...]
Songs & Stories 