"Hydroquinone Queen" by Duck Thieves
Review
As noted in yesterday's review of Duck Thieves' 10th birthday gig, they do more or less have a new single (produced by Mason Le Long) out to mark the milestone.
I say "more or less" because thanks to the mysterious workings of platforms, this has a particularly soft launch: as of the time of writing, Spotify haven't put it up, though it can be found on most of the other ones.
Duck Thieves fans will already know "Hydroquinone Queen": not only did they perform it on Saturday, but it also featured on the ‘20 Years of Joy: Volume 3' compilation earlier this year.
As ever with the band, they are addressing a serious issue and to demonstrate their commitment, have managed to write a song which centres round a word one might expect to be very tricky to include in a lyric which could be readily sung. But of course they pulled it off with aplomb. I don't know how many vocal takes it took to get it rolling off the tongue this smoothly but in concert they've got it nailed down.
Presented in a sort of gothic horror movie soundtrack style (which reflects the movie setting of the tale), the whole piece can be seen as an experiment in challenging the singers' skills: exaggerated vocalisms, octave jumping melodies & high speed tongue twisters abound.
Lyrically the song deals with a range of issues of victimisation in terms of cosmetic applications and techniques (the substance from which the song takes its title is used to lighten skin pigmentation: it can be used to deal with small blemishes but can be abused as more general "bleaching" practices which brings us fully into areas of racial as well as gender identity). The targets are widespread (including the film business) in contexts both of direct oppression and manipulation and wider indirect versions for which media & cultures bear responsibilities.
Taking into account all their songs released in 2024 (including their much applauded ‘Eyes Up Here' EP), I wonder whether Duck Thieves high wire act balancing profundity of insight with theatricality of musical vehicle is getting ever more audacious? Certainly this one packs so many ideas into just three and a half minutes while sounding as much like opera as pop. Their artistic ambition is simply soaring.
Talking of ‘Eyes Up Here', they have another release raring to go: a remix of the title track so watch out for that one too.
