While QRO first met Adam Schatz when he was making music inspired by cult hit TV show Lost (QRO interview), for years now as Landlady, he has been crafting skillful art-rock that’s also accessible to the masses (kind of like Lost, or at least its better moments). For his group’s self-titled full-length, Schatz goes brighter & better.
Landlady is not some dense, ‘no casual listeners’ art-rock that you just ‘didn’t get,’ but it is definitely art-rock. Schatz can make a spoken meander such as “Take the Hint” into something like pop, and goes further with the excellent dance & catch on standouts “AM Radio”, “Rule of Thumb”, closer “Bulldozer”, and the cheery & wry “Nowhere To Hide”. While the album maybe meanders too much, one never gets lost in the art.
This enforced seclusion has enabled – or forced – people to really sit with records, and re-appreciate the ones that weren’t easy to enjoy on first listen. More spins does benefit Landlady, but it’s also great on the first one, and will be great on the stage when we get to go there again.
