Nathan Walter works in a suicide watch unit in a hospital in Orlando, Florida. In the state of Florida, if a person attempts to commit suicide they are required to undergo treatment at his hospital. To prepare for each of his patients, Walter reads suicide notes and letters from each of them. The letters are bleak, full of despair and pretty of blame. People blame themselves. People blame their friends, lovers, enemies. People refuse to accept blame. “I swear I had it right. I swear I had it right. I SWEAR I HAD IT RIGHT.”

Walter has over time distilled these letters after letters into stories that become songs. Cutting against the hopelessless he adds the juxtaposition of a message of hope, love and courage. “but my Lord, his approach is unrelenting.” The songs are the foundation for the band, Quiet Science, a four-piece glam rock band that pulls influences from rock standards like U2, Coldplay, Radiohead, and Mew and adds a healthy dose of “Space Oddity” era David Bowie. It’s glam rock, but in truth it’s more straight up rock with glam touches, not heavy-handed wanderings through space.

I caught the band in a dingy, drab former theater (to the owner’s credit, it looks like a hole in the wall, but once you get inside, it’s a pretty cool concert venue with a very well-mixed quality PA system. I was impressed.) here in Georgia earlier this week. The band cuts a striking visual image alongside Walter’s electric guitar and lilting vocals. With Jacob Kaufman on bass guitar, Daisy Elizabeth adds a feminine touch on keyboards, and drummer Robert Williamson commmands attention with his antics as he pounds the drums. The style, though doesn’t overcome the substance as the band dresses futuristic, but not ridiculous. The execution is a little raw and still a little treble-heavy for my tastes, but what the band has that other bands lack is a signature, a style, and a genuine story to tell. Their chops will come with more time on the road on tour and more production in the studio, but if the execution of Quiet Science reaches the potential of the concept of Quiet Science there is no ceiling for this band. In some ways, they derive much of their stylings from one of my other favorite glam-rock bands, the Violet Burning, and much like that band even if they never “hit it big” they can develop a strong, devoted following with a solid catalog of music.

There is hope among the hopeless, “we’ll thank good men, good fortune, and the God who watches over them.” It’s a message that every scenester kid and delicately dressed girl wanted to hear at that show. It’s a message that will resound with a lot of listeners.

Sample their music on myspace at:
http://www.myspace.com/quietsciencemusic

Or download their EP for free on NoiseTrade
https://www.noisetrade.com/quietscience