Though it’s a noisy, brash, swollen, meditative guitar solo, “Queen of Swords” brings to mind Franz Liszt. Not for its romanticism, though its vision of someone alone in a deeply sonorous room long past midnight has more than its share. No, because much as Liszt transcribed all of Beethoven’s symphonies for solo piano, “Queen of Swords” sounds like one of Glenn Branca’s massive, tentacled guitar orchestras siphoned down to one single instrument — well, one single instrument and a fair amount of guitar pedals and an amp that is being pushed to its limit.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/radiofreeul-quoma. Radio Free Ul-quoma is Andrew Gladstone-Heighton of Gateshead, England.