Until The Quiet Comes
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Until the Quiet Comes'' is the fourth
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
producer
Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, Disc jockey, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder. Flyi ...
, released on September 26, 2012 by
Warp Records Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, A ...
. Flying Lotus was inspired to create the album by
psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis to ...
, African percussion, and concepts of the human subconscious and dream world. He recorded for two years at his home in Los Angeles, experimenting with different mixing techniques and dynamics while primarily using an
Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Ableton Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool f ...
sequencer along with other instruments and software. The producer was accompanied on certain songs by guest vocalists, including
Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...
,
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...
, and
Laura Darlington The Long Lost is a collaboration between American musicians Daedelus and Laura Darlington. The pair are also husband and wife. They dated in high school after initially meeting as members of their high school orchestra, as well as partners in t ...
. The album also continued his creative partnership with bassist Thundercat, who had appeared on Flying Lotus' 2010 record ''
Cosmogramma ''Cosmogramma'' is the third studio album by American music producer Steven Ellison as Flying Lotus, released by Warp Records on May 3, 2010. Recording sessions began in October 2008 in Ellison's apartment in Los Angeles, immediately following h ...
''. An
electronic jazz Nu jazz (also known as jazztronica, or future jazz) is a genre of jazz and electronic music. The music blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, electronic music, and free improvisation.Definition from Sergey Chernov, June 7, ...
album, ''Until the Quiet Comes'' features
free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
elements, varying musical tones, contrasting scales, and shifts in rhythmic feel. Its songs are sequenced together and characterized by what music journalists noted to be ghostly vocal production, irregular drum beats, pulsating percussive textures, trembling basslines, trilled
synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s, and fluctuating samples. The album has a journey-like concept and dreamy musical narrative, which Flying Lotus conceived while imagining himself in the process of
astral projection Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body called an " astral body" through which consciousness can functio ...
. He later said the album could be interpreted uniquely by listeners; it has been interpreted by writers as a musical accompaniment to dreams and a process of emotional introspection by the producer. ''Until the Quiet Comes'' was marketed with two
singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...
and a short film featuring music from the album. Flying Lotus also promoted the album with an international concert tour from October to November 2012, performing at venues in North America and abroad. The album debuted at number 34 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and sold 13,000 copies in its first week of release. It was a widespread critical success, receiving praise for its complex music and Flying Lotus'
sound engineering An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
.


Background

In 2010,
Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, Disc jockey, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder. Flyi ...
released his third album ''
Cosmogramma ''Cosmogramma'' is the third studio album by American music producer Steven Ellison as Flying Lotus, released by Warp Records on May 3, 2010. Recording sessions began in October 2008 in Ellison's apartment in Los Angeles, immediately following h ...
'' to critical acclaim and mainstream exposure. He recorded the album while grieving his mother's death, and titled it as a reference to his late great-aunt
Alice Coltrane Alice Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, was an American jazz musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few har ...
. The album showcased his dense, loose mix of
electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...
and live instrumentation with
avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...
,
dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
, and hip hop influences. During its recording, he developed a creative relationship with contributing bassist Thundercat, a member of his
Brainfeeder Brainfeeder is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Flying Lotus in 2008, focusing on electronic music and instrumental hip hop. It has signed artists such as Ras G, Samiyam, The Gaslamp Killer, Thundercat, The ...
record label. They continued working together on Flying Lotus' 2010 EP ''
Pattern+Grid World ''Pattern+Grid World'' is an EP by American electronic producer Flying Lotus. It was released by Warp Records on September 20, 2010. Release and reception Warp Records first released ''Pattern+Grid World'' in the United Kingdom on September 20 ...
'', which continued the dense electronic style of ''Cosmogramma''. They developed more
musical idea In music, a motif IPA: ( /moʊˈtiːf/) (also motive) is a short musical phrase, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition: "The motive ...
s together, from which Flying Lotus culled and produced for Thundercat's debut album ''
The Golden Age of Apocalypse ''The Golden Age of Apocalypse'' is the debut studio album by Thundercat, released on Brainfeeder in 2011. Critical reception At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''The Golden Age o ...
'' in 2011. For ''Until the Quiet Comes'', Flying Lotus was inspired by African percussion music and
psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
bands such as
Silver Apples Silver Apples were an American electronic rock group from New York, active between 1967 and 1970, before reforming in the mid-1990s. It was composed of Simeon (born Simeon Oliver Coxe III, June 4, 1938 – September 8, 2020), who performed o ...
, Can,
Stereolab Stereolab are an Anglo- French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a repetit ...
, Portishead, and
Gentle Giant Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-inst ...
. He also returned to listening to the music of his relatives Alice and
John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...
after listening excessively to austere
electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
while recording ''Cosmogramma''. Musically, he wanted to avoid repeating himself and chose a more minimal direction for the album, seeking to eschew the "strange sense of urgency" of ''Cosmogramma''s music for "
tension Tension may refer to: Science * Psychological stress * Tension (physics), a force related to the stretching of an object (the opposite of compression) * Tension (geology), a stress which stretches rocks in two opposite directions * Voltage or el ...
and release". He elaborated on his direction for the album in an interview for '' The National'', saying that "I think I'd have been in a bad position if I tried to recreate the same energy as I did on ''Cosmogramma'' – like, go in further. How about we pull back, try to do something that gets to the core of the emotional sentiment. Not so grand, more intimate. But still have the core of what it is." Conceptually, Flying Lotus pursued human-subconscious and dream world themes. He sought to tone down ''Cosmogramma''s grandiose, universal concept and create a timeless, journey-like work with ''Until the Quiet Comes'', from which he felt listeners could interpret their own stories. He imagined himself
astral projecting Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body called an " astral body" through which consciousness can functio ...
when conceiving the album and tried to translate ideas from fiction he had read into music, including holographic universes,
metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
,
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
philosophy, and
astrodynamics Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of ...
. In conceiving a narrative for the album, he drew on
Joseph Campbell Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...
's
hero's journey In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed. Earlie ...
literary theory to introduce a
world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
, characters, and situations musically. He characterized the album as both "a collage of
mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
states, dreams, sleep and lullabies", and "a children's record, a record for kids to dream to". He clarified the idea in an interview for ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' as "that whole experience of being innocent in this new world that you don't really understand. I imagined
Little Nemo Little Nemo is a fictional character created by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. He originated in an early comic strip by McCay, ''Dream of the Rarebit Fiend'', before receiving his own spin-off series, ''Little Nemo in Slumberland''. The f ...
on a flying bed floating over the city, and this is the soundtrack to it." Flying Lotus felt more confident in his ideas and as a recording artist after striving to distinguish himself from his contemporaries on previous albums.


Recording and production

Flying Lotus started working on ''Until the Quiet Comes'' at his home in
Mount Washington, Los Angeles Mount Washington is a historic neighborhood in the San Rafael Hills of Northeast Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1909, it includes the Southwest Museum, the world headquarters of the Self-Realization Fellowship, and Eldred Street, one of the ...
, which featured more acoustic space than his previous residence in
Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known fo ...
. He recorded the album for two years, using a spacious room there as a recording studio. He revisited scrapped ideas from the sessions for Thundercat's debut album and revised their direction for ''Until the Quiet Comes''. The song "Hunger" developed from a demo he had recorded for the soundtrack to one of the ''
Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this il ...
'' films, and "Sultan's Request" was performed live by Flying Lotus for three years before the album. For "Electric Candyman", he used a beat he had prepared for sessions that ultimately fell through with
Burial Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
, and he used a five-year-old recording with
Samiyam Sam Baker, better known by his stage name Samiyam, is an American hip hop producer based in Los Angeles, California. Life and career Samiyam released the ''Return'' EP on Hyperdub in 2008. He also released ''Rap Beats Vol. 1'' in the same year. ...
for the second half of "The Nightcaller". Flying Lotus recorded ''Until the Quiet Comes'' in a three-part process—first composing rough drafts for songs, then refining them for several months with additional instrumentation to make them substantial, and finally mixing the songs for a cohesive album. Unlike with his previous work, he concentrated on his music's dynamics rather than just its production when working on the album. Interested in
music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
and
arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
s, he started taking piano lessons at the beginning of the album's recording to learn more
chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord (as ...
and progressions. Rather than emphasize conventional
song structure Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and ...
elements such as hooks and choruses, Flying Lotus composed
instrumentals A backing track is an audio recording on audiotape, CD or a digital recording medium or a MIDI recording of synthesized instruments, sometimes of purely rhythmic accompaniment, often of a rhythm section or other accompaniment parts that live music ...
that he found to be more intellectual and less danceable than ''Cosmogramma'' and treated them as the basis of tracks when recording the album. He also recorded melodic
refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...
s to evoke feelings of childlike innocence on songs. Flying Lotus worked primarily with an
Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Ableton Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool f ...
music sequencer A music sequencer (or audio sequencer or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or Open Sound Cont ...
through his MacBook Pro laptop. At his home studio, he had upgraded
monitors Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West Vir ...
acquired from after his move there, and various digital and analog instruments, including a drum kit, a
Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...
piano,
Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...
s,
Access Virus The Access Virus is a virtual analog synthesizer made by the German company Access Music GmbH. It was first produced in 1997 and has since been upgraded frequently, with the company releasing new models about every two years. Early models includ ...
and
Minimoog Voyager The Minimoog Voyager or Voyager is a monophonic analog synthesizer, designed by Robert Moog and released in 2002 by Moog Music. The Voyager was modeled after the classic Minimoog synthesizer that was popular in the 1970s, and is meant to be a s ...
synthesizers, a drum machine, three Mac Powerbooks, and a
DSP DSP may refer to: Computing * Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal * Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing * Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...
unit. He played drums without quantizing them and referred to the personal library of samples he had amassed over his career while producing the album. He recorded the song "Dream to Me" the day after purchasing a microKORG synthesizer. He ultimately recorded over 60 songs for the album before editing them down. To attain certain dynamics on songs, Flying Lotus studied different mixing techniques and switched
software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
midway through the album's recording. He later cited the switch as the reason for the album's completion being overdue, although he felt that it was productive to challenge himself as a student of music. Flying Lotus employed a
trial and error Trial and error is a fundamental method of problem-solving characterized by repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success, or until the practicer stops trying. According to W.H. Thorpe, the term was devised by C. Lloyd Morgan (1 ...
approach to mixing and applied his new knowledge of
compression Compression may refer to: Physical science *Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces *Compression member, a structural element such as a column *Compressibility, susceptibility to compression * Gas compression *Compression ratio, of a ...
to attain a more satisfactory result before the album's
master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
. He also sought to limit distracting frequencies and
segue A segue (; ) is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next. The term is derived from Italian ''segue'', which literally means "follows". In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next ...
s in favor of more important sounds throughout the album. To make certain sounds more affecting, he used the side-chain compression technique to trigger compression of different organ, strings, and bass sounds upon a drum kick on a song. He said of his production and the music's
dynamic range Dynamic range (abbreviated DR, DNR, or DYR) is the ratio between the largest and smallest values that a certain quantity can assume. It is often used in the context of signals, like sound and light. It is measured either as a ratio or as a base-1 ...
in an interview for ''
Electronic Musician ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...
'', "I've been learning to bring things down before I even start. I'll start composing a track at like −8 dB, then I have all this headroom to play with afterward. I've learned how to tuck and limit things, learned to EQ before you limit." As with his previous releases, ''Until the Quiet Comes'' was mastered by engineer
Daddy Kev Kevin Marques Moo (born 1974), better known by his stage name Daddy Kev, is an American DJ, Grammy Award-winning audio engineer, record producer and executive from Los Angeles, California. He is the owner of Alpha Pup Records and the founder of Low ...
at his Echo Chamber Studio in Eagle Rock. He used a Pro Tools 9
workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...
and various EQ plug-ins on his
Mac Pro Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals that are designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of f ...
, while working at a 24-bit, 96 kHz audio quality to comply with
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
' "Mastered for iTunes" regulations. To preserve the tracks' original dynamics, Daddy Kev used a
signal chain Signal chain, or signal-processing chain is a term used in signal processing and mixed-signal system design to describe a series of signal-conditioning electronic components that receive input (data acquired from sampling either real-time phenom ...
that processed both digital and analog signals. He found the mastering process to be "very intimate" and likened it to "giving birth" for Flying Lotus, saying in an interview, "We may go through multiple mixes so a certain
808 808 may refer to: Music * Roland-808, Roland TR-808, a drum machine * 808 (film), ''808'' (film), a documentary about the Roland TR-808 * 808 State, British electronic group * ''808s & Heartbreak'', the fourth studio album by American Hip hop artis ...
can sit right in the pocket for him, and while he's finishing his edits its my job to boost just the right things by a decibel or two, and keep things sonically correct." He used both
professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
and
club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...
-oriented amplifiers and
monitors Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West Vir ...
to minimize
harmonic distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...
and maintain Flying Lotus' minimalist aesthetic, which, along with his need to find a quiet mental space, inspired the album's title: "I wanted to set people up to this idea, before they even heard it, that the quiet was a key word in the whole thing ... part of pulling it back is some kind of growing up."


Collaborations

Flying Lotus collaborated with other musicians for additional elements on songs. He worked with instrumentalist and musical director Miguel Atwood Ferguson to incorporate strings arrangements to songs. Thundercat played live bass on nine of the album's songs. To develop basslines for songs, Flying Lotus had Thundercat's bass plugged into a
DI unit A DI unit (direct input or direct inject) is an electronic device typically used in recording studios and in sound reinforcement systems to connect a high-output impedance, line level, unbalanced output signal to a low-impedance, microphone level ...
of a
FireWire IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple in cooperation with a number of companies, primarily Sony an ...
interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * ''Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Inte ...
as he improvised
riffs A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accomp ...
to Flying Lotus' suggestions. Flying Lotus captured flat-levelled bass
ideas In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. ...
into the interface, which allowed him to manipulate their tone and integrate them with digital instruments and samples on songs. He attributes the continuity of the album's music to Thundercat's bass playing. For certain tracks on the album, Flying Lotus wanted to use vocalists that would "see their sound as texture as opposed to the song", and said of this preference in an interview for ''
Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down productio ...
'', "Sometimes singers overdo it so that you only focus on the voice, which is cool sometimes, but it's my record – I'm producing it – so the songs should be about the track as a whole. The people that are my favorites are ones who have such a respect for what's already there. They don't try to approach it thinking they're going to turn it into a song, but rather going to add to it." Flying Lotus enlisted other vocalists, including
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...
on "Electric Candyman",
Laura Darlington The Long Lost is a collaboration between American musicians Daedelus and Laura Darlington. The pair are also husband and wife. They dated in high school after initially meeting as members of their high school orchestra, as well as partners in t ...
on "Phantasm",
Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...
on "See Thru to U", and Thundercat on "DMT Song". Yorke wanted to be involved with the album after collaborating on "...And the World Laughs with You" for ''Cosmogramma'', and exchanged his vocals via email. Flying Lotus admired him for knowing "when things work and
hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
they don't. He doesn't bullshit in that way. He spends his time wisely. I wish I could say that about a lot more people." He met Badu through Thundercat, who had played in her backing band and collaborated with her on ''The Golden Age of Apocalypse'', and started working on her own upcoming album while recording ''Until the Quiet Comes''. Flying Lotus also planned to work with
Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, th ...
, but the collaboration fell through. Instead, he appropriated music from one of Greenwood's film soundtracks for the song "Hunger", for which Greenwood is credited as composer.


Music

''Until the Quiet Comes'' is characterized by varying musical tones, contrasting scales, both consonant and dissonant sounds,
counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
, and shifts in
feel Feel may refer to: *Feeling Music Bands * Feel (New York band), a dance and R&B band * Feel (Polish band), a pop rock band Songs * "Feel" (Kendrick Lamar song), 2017 * "Feel", by Phora, 2018 *"Feel", by Mahmut Orhan, 2016 * "Feel" (Kumi Koda so ...
. Its complex, diverse soundscapes deviate from popular music
song forms A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...
and employ contrast and improvisational adjustments in mood,
structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
, and
time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
. Darryl Kirchner of ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' notes an emphasis on
timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...
throughout the album. Mark Richardson of ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' observes Flying Lotus "putting a smaller
frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...
around each individual part" throughout the album's shifts and finds the "energy" to be "just as strong" as on his previous albums, but "concentrated into a smaller space." Although he finds it less "imposing" than its predecessor, Thomas May of ''
musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...
'' comments that "''Until the Quiet Comes'' is like a
chamber Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations * Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics * Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...
concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
to ''Cosmogramma''s
symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
", noting "an increased sense of space and separation" on the former. Songs on the album incorporate ghostly vocal production, winding
bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
s, uptempo
drum-and-bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
fills, broad orchestral elements, pulsating percussive textures, bright keyboards, trilled
synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s, and fluctuating samples. They are sequenced together and exhibit a diminishing pace from the end of one track to the start of another. Joe Tacopino of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' views that the album's guest vocalists "float into lying Lotus'srealm like visitors, just as fragile and malleable as the other elements he employs. This reiterates the album's feel as one complete story, instead of disparate songs." Fellow music journalist Vincent Pollard comments that most of the vocals are "used as subtle textures" and observes Flying Lotus "employing more organic tropes in his digital mix". He incorporates horn arrangements and live drum patterns, while his programmed beats evoke the " in the pocket" drumming of percussionists such as
Rashied Ali Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life. Biography Early life Patterson was born and ...
. The songs also exhibits Flying Lotus' characteristic mix of skittering, muffled percussion atop slightly irregular
drum beat A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated rhythm establishing the meter and groove through the pulse and subdivision, played on drum kits and other percussion instruments. As such a "beat" consists of multiple drum strokes ...
s, accompanied by Thundercat's trembling basslines. Stylistically, the album eschews Flying Lotus' hip hop roots for jazz influences, including
free form jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians durin ...
tonality and undertones, and jazz-based time signatures and patterns. Gabrielle Ahern of ''
CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
'' calls it "a moody, electronic version of experimental jazz." Jonny Ensall of '' Time Out'' views the album as "a digital jazz record which pushes hip hop beats and R&B melodies into bold, new
syncopated In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...
and
atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...
territory." Tony Ware of ''
Electronic Musician ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...
'' attributes "certain chord choices and the interest in astral mystical states that permeates ''Until the Quiet Comes''" to Flying Lotus' "family lineage" of jazz musicians. ''
Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...
'' finds it "often reminiscent of his auntie's work", while ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
''s Derek Staples perceives a "free jazz aesthetic" similar to "his great-uncle John Coltrane's '' Ascension''", viewing both albums as "exercise in dense rhythmic layers and melodic dissonance." The album also repurposes elements of pop,
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
,
fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
, and psychedelia in a
modern classical In music, modernism is an aesthetic stance underlying the period of change and development in musical language that occurred around the turn of the 20th century, a period of diverse reactions in challenging and reinterpreting older categories o ...
fashion. '' Q'' describes the album as "a lush, almost psychedelic mood piece." Lucy Jones of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' attributes the album's "meander ngand experiment ng to a
progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
influence.


Concept and interpretations

''Until the Quiet Comes'' has been described by ''
Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...
'' and ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...
'' as having a dreamy musical narrative; the latter magazine said it is, "quite literally, a dream album". Andy Beta from ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' likened it to the " dreams within dreams within dreams" concept from the 2010 film ''
Inception ''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced the film with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltr ...
''. Karen Lawler of ''
State State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
'' said "if the limbo between awake and sleeping, dreams and nightmares could be expressed through music, this album might well be it." Jeff Weiss, writing in ''
LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...
'', felt the record had a loose concept that "surrounds the nocturnal
visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
of a child lost in
spacedust Spacedust were the British production duo of Paul Glancy and Duncan Glasson. They had a number one hit single in the UK Singles Chart in 1998 with "Gym and Tonic". The track was technically a cover of Bob Sinclar's single "Gym Tonic," althoug ...
dreams" and likens it to a narcotic film in the vein of ''Little Nemo'' and
Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...
, writing that "swirling voices seem like clouds communing.
Snare SNARE proteins – " SNAP REceptor" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts, more than 60 members in mammalian cells, and some numbers in plants. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to mediate vesicle fu ...
crashes mimic obscene villains. Hard beats propel chase scenes. Basslines gurgle like goofy dancing sidekicks. Erykah Badu plays the all-powerful good witch. Thom Yorke guests as the gnomish sorcerer with the
seraph A seraph (, "burning one"; plural seraphim ) is a type of celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Tradition places seraphim in the highest rank in Chr ...
ic yawp." In the opinion of Will Ryan from ''
Beats Per Minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...
'', ''Until the Quiet Comes'' was another "journey" concept work by Flying Lotus, but distinguished it as an introspective, "subconscious" journey following the "temporal" journey idea of his 2006 debut ''
1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
'', the "geographical" 2008 album ''
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
'', and the "cosmic", "out-and-out musical" ''Cosmogramma''. Rory Gibb from ''
The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...
'' wrote that the narrative on this album veered into "the corridors" of Flying Lotus' "own mind", interpreting his guest vocalists as "disembodied phantoms, reanimated figments of his imagination stripped of agency and directed to their roles by issubconscious." Gibb argued that ''Until the Quiet Comes'' was "an important and significant album" partly for engaging with "grand narratives" such as "the shifting identities of both humans and electronic music forms in a digital age", and "the internet's erosion of memory processes". Reef Younis of '' Clash'' perceived an emotional context to the album, writing that, "where lying Lotusgrieved on ''Cosmogramma'', he believes on ''Until The Quiet Comes'' and there's a burgeoning sense of hope and coherence and optimism". Arnold Pan of ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' calls ''Until the Quiet Comes'' "a subliminal soundtrack to the
postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
experience of everyday life" and views that Flying Lotus' subtle, "sentient and sensual" details throughout the album's music represent "an undertone of yearning emotion and even soulfulness that separates isaesthetic on ''Quiet'' from that of other producer-types who may be just as proficient, technically speaking."


Songs

The opening track "All In" incorporates bells,
kick A kick is a physical Strike (attack), strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee (strike), ...
and snare drums,
shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...
,
harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
s, guitar, and
electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck The ...
. It features a reverberating, high-pitched note, whose discordant sound is subsequently offset by keyboard flourishes and cursory snare drums.
Lilting Lilting is a form of traditional singing common in the Goidelic speaking areas of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Mann. It goes under many names, and is sometimes referred to as ''diddling'' (generally in England and Scotland), ''mouth music' ...
background vocals during the song's melodic section lead to a bass kick and aggressive drum patterns. The wistful "Getting There" expands on the previous track with a basic drum kick,
Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...
blip sounds, chimes, and a
walking bass Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
line. It has heavy emphasis on the first and third beat of every
measure Measure may refer to: * Measurement, the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event Law * Ballot measure, proposed legislation in the United States * Church of England Measure, legislation of the Church of England * Mea ...
. "Until the Colours Come" contains
modulated In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...
synthesizers. "Heave(n)" features bright, round keyboards, jazz and
electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
elements, and tonal shading. Mark Richardson of ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' views that the music from "All In" to "Heave(n)" comprise an opening section on the album that "functions as a sort of miniature suite of downtempo jazz." "Tiny Tortures" features echoing, tendrillar guitar, minimal
glitch A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...
sounds, and
post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
melodies. The song begins with a skeletal, irregular rhythm, comprising a digital wood block, snare drum, and hissing cymbals, that is subsequently contrasted by Thundercat's harmonic bass runs. "All the Secrets" has a
new-age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
sound and features
Casiotone Casiotone was a series of home electronic keyboards made by Casio in the early 1980s. Casio promoted the Casiotone 201 (CT-201) as "the first electronic keyboard with full-size keys that anyone could afford". The name "Casiotone" disappeared from ...
breakdowns, deftly timed vocal samples, restless drumming, poignant piano, and post-dub elements. "Sultan's Request" has a
square wave A square wave is a non-sinusoidal periodic waveform in which the amplitude alternates at a steady frequency between fixed minimum and maximum values, with the same duration at minimum and maximum. In an ideal square wave, the transitions b ...
bassline, tense
synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s, and transitioning pitches and textures, spanning from a low-end drop to an
upper register A register is the "height" or range (music), range of a Musical note, note, set theory (music), set of pitch (music), pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, musical instrument, instrument, or group of instruments. A higher register indicates highe ...
of high-pitched samples and steady hand claps. "Putty Boy Strut" features an alien critter voice, complex drum programming, and
acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French ''acousmatique'', is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary p ...
jazz guitars. It concludes with a brief violin section. "See Thru to U" incorporates
jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...
and funk styles. It features a loose
arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
,
tom-tom drum A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go as la ...
s,
hi-hats A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...
,
double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
, and tribal rhythms. Erykah Badu's vocals on the song are distorted and layered into loose, overlapping patterns, scat arrangements, and high-pitched vocal runs. "DMT Song" and "Nightcaller" serve as the album's centerpiece. The former song, titled after the natural psychedelic compound
dimethyltryptamine ''N'',''N''-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT or ''N'',''N''-DMT, SPL026) is a substituted tryptamine that occurs in many plants and animals, including human beings, and which is both a derivative and a structural analog of tryptamine. It is used as a ...
, incorporates
jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat (groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creatio ...
and light tenor to chorused falsetto vocals by Thundercat. It transitions into "The Nightcaller", which has analog percussion, piercing synthesizers, and interplay between Thundercat's bass and virtuosic cello. The song's smooth, muffled beat climaxes as a euphoric
crescendo In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependi ...
. The densely textured title track features expressive bass playing by Thundercat, continuous gong and handclaps, and
J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...
-like keyboard. "Only If You Wanna" is a futuristic
jazz trio A jazz trio is a group of three jazz musicians, often a piano trio comprising a pianist, a double bass player and a drummer. Jazz trios are commonly named after their leader, such as the Bill Evans Trio. Variants and examples Famous examples incl ...
piece with both digital and analog sounds.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Andy Kellman delineates the songs from "See Thru to U" to "Only If You Wanna" as the album's most musically connected and "least divisible" section. "Electric Candyman" has a dreamy R&B style and features distant, cooing vocals by Thom Yorke, a rattling drum sample, ghostly drones, and anthropoid shrieks. Yorke chants on the song, "look into my mirror and say my name", a reference to the titular character in the 1992 film '' Candyman''. Flying Lotus said of his vocals on the song, "I like it when he gets into that spooky pocket. People are like, that doesn't sound like Thom, make it sound more like Thom – but I'm like, it's my album." The electro-acoustic "Phantasm" contains slinky vocals by Laura Darlington, metronome clicks, oscillating string arrangements, and agitated
downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...
sounds. "me Yesterday//Corded" features bright
arpeggio A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
s, twisted bass grooves, and a subsuming vocal chorus. Flying Lotus characterizes the song as a reflection of his past emotions. "Dream to Me" has overlapping synthesizers and serves as an exodus in the album's conceptual arc.


Marketing and sales

Two
singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...
were released to promote ''Until the Quiet Comes'', beginning with "See Thru to U" on August 16, 2012, as a digital download on iTunes. It was accompanied by the release of an abstract
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
online. On September 17, Flying Lotus released a teaser video called ''Small Moments'', in which previews of the album's songs were accompanied by mysterious, botanical imagery. "Putty Boy Strut" was released on September 19 with an accompanying animated, robot-themed video by
Cyriak Cyriak Harris, known mononymously as Cyriak () and his B3ta username Mutated Monty, is an English freelance animator, artist, composer, and author from Brighton. He is known for his surreal and bizarre short web animations with the frequent u ...
. A music video for "Tiny Tortures" was released on November 29 and featured
Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003) and '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' (2012). Wood ...
playing a depressed man without a right arm who envisions objects in his room recreating his arm, but is revealed to be torturing himself. A short film promoting the album was released on September 6, 2012. It was titled after the album and directed by
Kahlil Joseph Kahlil Joseph (pronounced ''"Kha-leel"'') is an American film, television and stage actor and teacher of performing arts. He has worked extensively in the United States and India. Joseph is based in Los Angeles. Early life Joseph was born in ...
, who shot it in
35 mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on f ...
at the
Nickerson Gardens Nickerson Gardens is a 1,066-unit public housing apartment complex at 1590 East 114th Street in Watts, Los Angeles, California. Nickerson Gardens is the largest public housing development west of the Mississippi River and was the first home of ma ...
housing project in
Watts, Los Angeles Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated comm ...
and incorporated three songs from the album—"See Thru to U", "Hunger", and "Getting There". The film was intended to be a tragic depiction of urban life featuring Joseph's interpretations of innocence, violence, and death. It begins with an
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
youth's death, segues into a scene of affection shared among other African-American males, and concludes with the shooting of another, whose death is reversed to the effect of a dance. A scene in the film also features an
inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...
youth wearing a shirt bearing the words "J Dilla Changed My Life", an allusion to the influence of
J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...
on Flying Lotus. The film received praise from critics, and its viral success led to Warp Records' decision to pitch it to a music video network; it was ultimately accepted and aired by
MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...
.
Hilton Als Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer and theater critic. He is a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley, an associate professor of writing at Columbia University and a staff writer and theater critic for ''The New Yor ...
of ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' called the film "an amalgamation of horrifying beauty" and wrote of Joseph's use of rewind, "the character's fall becomes a kind of dance—for life." ''Until the Quiet Comes'' was first released in Japan on September 26, 2012, as a CD, before a wider release on all formats—CD,
vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...
, and digital—by
Warp Records Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, A ...
on October 2. It was also made available for
streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
online from September 26 to October 2, the date of its release in North America. ''Until the Quiet Comes'' was sent as a single 47-minute digital track to music critics who would be reviewing it. Flying Lotus intended for the album to be listened as a whole instead of skimmed through by listeners. During October, he appeared at several release events, including in-store appearances, signings, DJ sets, and interview sessions at music venues and retailers. In the first week of release, the album debuted at number 34 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 13,000 copies. By October 7, 2012, it had sold 14,000 copies, according to
Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
. The album also debuted at number 34 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
, becoming Flying Lotus' highest-charting record there. In Belgium, it charted for four weeks, peaking at number 26.


Critical reception

''Until the Quiet Comes'' was met with widespread critical acclaim. At
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 83, based on 36 reviews. The album was hailed by ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' magazine's Lucy Jones as "the sound of the future" and by Scott Kara of ''
The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'' as a "masterpiece of
sound engineering An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
". Reviewing for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, Andy Kellman said Flying Lotus "not only peels away layers from his sound but organizes his tracks into a gracefully flowing sequence" on what is "his most accessible and creative release yet." ''
Filter Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...
'' magazine's Kyle Lemmon found his musicianship deft and the songs invariably "vaporous and angelic or menacing and silhouetted", and Thomas May from ''
musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...
'' praised both the difficult concept and its execution. "With an unprecedented melodic disposition and busy yet rarely cluttered arrangements", May wrote, "this album possesses remarkable poise and balance in the face of its fearsome complexity." ''
Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...
''s Jazz Monroe believed it may prove to be the producer's best album because of his ability to "close the schism between the true avant-garde and the leftfield mainstream". Arnold Pan of ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' said that his amalgamated music was achieved with admirable ease and lucidity, as Flying Lotus "conducts a master class on both how to create flow as well as how to maintain it through an entire album." While finding the record's "complicated brilliance" less "boisterous" than ''Cosmogramma'', Jonah Bromwich of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' claimed the album "does a better job than its predecessor of weaving together the tangled strands of" disparate styles and concluded, "after multiple listens, the album reveals itself to be as nuanced, as subtle, and a lot more digestible". Also in comparison to ''Cosmogramma'', Vincent Pollard wrote in ''
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' that it accomplishes a more spiritual yet unpretentious depth, resulting in "one of the most rewarding and beautiful albums of the year". Some reviewers were less impressed. ''
State State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
'' magazine's Karen Lawler said the songs are "too short for any single musical concept to fully develop", and Alex Macpherson from ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' found the record to be "packed full of ideas" on tracks that "feel less like fully fleshed-out compositions than lightly drawn sketches started, but not always finished". In ''Rolling Stone'',
Will Hermes Will Hermes (born December 27, 1960 in Jamaica, Queens, New York City) is an American author, broadcaster, journalist and critic who has written extensively about popular music. He is a longtime contributor to ''Rolling Stone'' and to National Pu ...
applauded Flying Lotus' "taste for 21st-century
soul jazz Soul jazz or funky jazz is a subgenre of jazz that incorporates strong influences from hard bop, blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues. Soul jazz is often characterized by organ trios featuring the Hammond organ and small combos including ten ...
with swarming high-end displays", but said "it all adds up to something so captivating that vocal guests ... can get a little lost. Although maybe that's the point".
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
named the title track and "Sultan's Request" as highlights but was lukewarm about the jazz-inspired musical concept, saying that it "achieves the sopranos-and-tinkle phase of sophisticated aural pansensuality". Jazz critic Tom Hull called it a "dreamy series of blips and voices" that is "mostly pleasant enough but a couple trigger my classical gag reflex."


Touring

Flying Lotus first performed in promotion of the album at the
Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...
in Los Angeles on September 23, 2012. He then embarked on an international tour for the album during October to November 2012, playing 11 concert dates in North America and eight dates abroad, including Europe and Japan. He performed strictly with his laptop, and excluded takes of songs he had recorded with Miguel Atwood Ferguson's string quartet, feeling that the strings would not translate live. Along with his own material, Flying Lotus included remixes of other artists' songs in his live sets, including
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
,
Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...
, and
Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
. Flying Lotus felt that his grasp on new mixing techniques helped make his live shows more "evolved and changed a little bit", telling ''Exclaim!'' in October 2012, "It's more dynamic. But still a party! Not like my albums,
hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
are more like personal exchange; iveit's nice to have that social experience." Reviewing his performance at
Danforth Music Hall The Danforth Music Hall (originally Allen's Danforth Theatre) is a music venue and event theatre on Danforth Avenue in the neighbourhood of Riverdale in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is served by Broadview station on the TTC's Bloor–Danforth ...
that month, ''
Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...
'' journalist Kevin Ritchie observed a "resoundingly maximal aesthetic and sound" that was "way more bombastic
EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
" than the album's " IDM abstraction". As an example, Ritchie cited the producer's mixing of "the recognizable with the weird, like when Kanye West's
Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...
gave way to the hand-claps of ''Quiet'' cut Putty Boy Strut." Flying Lotus also worked with longtime collaborator Dr. Strangeloop to create collage-like imagery during the shows, including geometric visuals synched to the performed music. Joshua P. Ferguson of '' Time Out'' wrote of the visual effects in Flying Lotus' performance at
Metro Chicago Metro (formerly the Stages Music Hall and Cabaret Metro) is a concert hall in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that plays host to a variety of local, regional and national emerging bands and musicians. The Metro was first opened in 1982. The ...
, "all manner of ''
Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer a ...
''-like halos, expanding and contracting orbs, starscapes and unidentifiable amorphous globs of color raced, shot and oozed their way across screens placed both in front of and behind Flying Lotus."


Track listing

Notes * (add.) denotes additional production. * "Hunger" incorporates elements from "Guitar 12" by
Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, th ...
.


Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. * Sam Baker – composer * Brandon Coleman – keyboards * Gene Coye – drums *
Daddy Kev Kevin Marques Moo (born 1974), better known by his stage name Daddy Kev, is an American DJ, Grammy Award-winning audio engineer, record producer and executive from Los Angeles, California. He is the owner of Alpha Pup Records and the founder of Low ...
– mastering *
Laura Darlington The Long Lost is a collaboration between American musicians Daedelus and Laura Darlington. The pair are also husband and wife. They dated in high school after initially meeting as members of their high school orchestra, as well as partners in t ...
– composer, vocals *
Dorian Concept Dorian Concept (born Oliver Thomas Johnson, 1984) is an Austrian composer, music producer and keyboardist whose work draws on an eclectic variety of sources including modal and free jazz, funk, hip-hop, electronic, ambient, and soundscape mus ...
– keyboards *
Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...
– composer, vocals * Miguel Atwood Ferguson – strings *
Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, Disc jockey, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder. Flyi ...
– composer, producer *
Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, th ...
– composer * The Integration Players – strings * Dan Kitchens – photography *
Austin Peralta Austin Topper Peralta (October 25, 1990 – November 21, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer from Los Angeles, California. He was the son of film director and Z-Boys skateboarder Stacy Peralta. Early life Austin Peralta was bor ...
– composer, keyboards * Niki Randa – composer, vocals * Stephen Serrato – art direction, design * Thundercat – bass guitar, composer, vocals *
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...
– composer, vocals


Charts


Release history


See also

*
Dream art Dream art is any form of art that is directly based on a material from one's dreams, or a material that resembles dreams, but not directly based on them. History The first known reference to dream art was in the 12th century, when Charles Coop ...


References


External links

* * * * {{Authority control 2012 albums Concept albums Flying Lotus albums Warp (record label) albums Albums produced by Flying Lotus