Quickly, Quickly’s “I Heard That Noise” is not just an album

Jonson’s second album is a rollercoaster of emotions. It’s not as fun as you think it is, but it could make you cry. 

Graham Jonson, creating music under the name “Quickly, Quickly,” recently released his second album I Heard That Noise on April 18. The album is a concept album, where the track list tells the listeners a story of relationship struggles, heartbreaks and the path in moving forward. His one-of-a-kind mix of jazz, R&B and electric synth with honest, vulnerable lyrics can make listeners relate to his noise. 

“Until I heard that noise outside begin,” he sings in the chorus of the first song. The introduction sounds as though a purge is about to start, but the song unexpectedly shifts into a piano lullaby. The lyrics convey the singer’s wish for his mind to remain in a constant state of amnesia, setting the stage for his hopeless perspective in life.  

The first song starts out like a finale, then all of a sudden, the synergy of instruments seems like his life was getting shown through the broken lenses of a kaleidoscope, portrayed as an endless echoing. This introduces us to the album’s overall project: the reconstruction of a lost memory. 

The story is a tale of dying love.  

The second track “Enything” re-introduces listeners to a 90’s electronic, jazzy tune smothered in dream core aesthetic. The combination between upbeat tunes and carefree vocals despite the message of dire warnings and red flags seems to show his desperation for his relationship to continue. Yet— his wish wasn’t granted. 

“Take It From Me,” follows up with a tender choral peppered with acoustic guitar chords, depicting the entire break-up. Surprisingly, the way the lyrics visualize the breakup didn’t feel so heartbreaking; it felt natural. His voice twirling in each end of the chorus then audibly fading seems to echo the way that his lover disappears like a gust of wind. No matter how passionately he sings, the wind can never stay. The song creates a strong a sense of how much it hurt to realize that he was going to be alone. 

Frustrated, unmotivated, and deteriorating, the next few songs depict how he is shackled by his own longing, as he struggles to fix himself. “This House,” “This Room,” and “I Punched Through The Wall,” explored how much of a whirlwind his emotional state was and how he fails to get over his partner again and again, only continuing to hear the same, repetitive sound of the nagging, slow-burn beat of his self-isolation. However, “I Punched Through The Wall,” is a vivid depiction of his anger, explained in a more volatile way. 

“And then I punched through the wall / It felt like nothing at all,” he sings accompanied by distorted, muffled sounds of sirens. It harkens back to the very first song now visualizing his anguish as a contorted breakdown, as if he were having an existential breakdown during that peak. And then it abruptly ends. 

The album finds itself in a parallel beginning to the first track. “I am not your hurting / I am not my history / you gave what you could,” he sings in “Drawn Away,” which cleverly encapsulates his idea of accepting the past to move forward. Although the entirety of the song was dreary (like most of the songs from the album), the composition didn’t feel depressing. Compared to the rest of the songs on the album, “Drawn Away” is one of the most comforting songs I Heard That Noise has to offer.   

What’s interesting about this album is how it follows a vague narrative told in a straightforward way. The strictly sequenced album constructs a story that can be interpreted in numerous ways, but which yet manages to stick to the idea of the ongoing struggle of dealing with a difficult memory.

Graham Jonson’s ability to continue to evolve his music through his unique use of instruments and “musical jump scares” keeps fans engaged.  I Heard That Noise is one of Jonson’s notable works. While there are many independent artists who continue to exceed fan’s expectations like himself, Jonson’s career as a musician isn’t just a noise that began; it’s a transcending noise that will continue to begin until the rise of his story. 

Cover Image: @quicklyquickly on Instagram