Model View Controller

Recorded:June - August 2016
Released:February 24th, 2017
Album length:39:00
Label:Triangular Sounds

Model View Controller, Chick Quest's sophomore follow-up to 2015's Vs. Galore, was not an easy album to make, but the hard work and attention to detail pays off. Traversing erratically through ten eclectic songs, the listener may be surprised how well it all works together as a cohesive body of music.

On the surface, the songs are still unmistakably Chick Quest: glorious Spaghetti Western trumpets, melodic, bouncy bass lines, and simple, catchy beats. One might notice a move into a more atmospheric, bigger sound. But dig a bit deeper and you will discover a greater emphasis on repetition and redundancy as something that can actually be interesting and unique, while the lyrics express a more complicated set of somber emotions and themes regarding image & superficiality, entrapment & control, the desire to escape— that dooming gut feeling that something here is ending.

Download on Bandcamp

In addition to Bandcamp, you can also find Model View Controller on these sites:

Spotify,Apple Music,iTunes,Tidal,Google Play,Amazon

Track Listing & Lyrics

  1. Model View Controller

    In the model view controller
    Life’s divided, organized
    It’s easy to see your thoughts
    pulled from a database

    Illusion of entrapment equals doom.

    Misinformed and confused
    I’m given options I think I choose
    The glow of what I can view
    is worshiped as truth
    I’m doomed
    Let’s ride

  2. The Afterlife

    Meanwhile...

    The lady on the TV's singing how much she loves him as if she means it
    Dramatic slow-mo Turkish guy is clenching his fists to show he feels it
    Everything's emotional and serious
    Everything's emotional and serious
    You buy what you eye and try to model your style off the afterlife.

    I’m only gonna dance if I have heard of this song because I can’t feel it
    I’m only gonna dance if I have heard of this song because I can’t feel it
    Give them all an anthem to believe in
    Give them all an anthem to believe in
    The repetitious Sisyphus is looping the hits in the afterlife.

    I’m looking around, I'm thinking about it
    I’m breaking it down, I’m waiting for cues
    They’re dancing around, I’m thinking about it
    Stop… ok!

    Here’s another four dudes in a rawk band
    Here’s another love song for your right hand
    The repetitious Sisyphus is looping the hits in the afterlife.

    I’m only gonna dance if I’ve heard of this song before.
    I’m only gonna dance if I’ve heard of this song before.
    Singing messiahs
    Pensive objection
    Faces are gazing
    in random directions
    I’m waiting for the day when we can make our escape out of the afterlife.

    I’m looking around, I'm thinking about it
    I’m breaking it down, I’m waiting for cues
    They’re dancing around, I’m thinking about it
    Stop.

  3. Down in a Crypt

    Down in a crypt my life depicts
    All the gloom and macabre in a Karloff flick.
    The gray malaise has spent all its days
    And now it’s time for something that will raze this phase.

    Down in a crypt my love gets stripped
    Under the sex and the ground where the rhythm’s kept.
    The raw, untamed, incandescent profane
    Lose control of their soul in this arcane domain.

    Down in the shit, the nit and the grit
    Where moving like a human means you dance a bit,
    The epidermis sweats and the heart’s divine
    While shaking to a Belgrade bomb in common time.

    Cyrillic skeleton dance
    Cyrillic skeleton trance
    I cannot speak your language but I know know know that I’m home.

  4. One Dead End Leads to Another

    Don’t get angry
    Don’t get sad
    Just behave

    Not an exit
    Vanilla future
    Lost decade
    Changed overnight
    A different body
    A deeper meaning
    The sun is rising
    The brain is haunted still

    Because take the long way backwards
    Going up to go down
    Straight on the path goes around around around around
    till there’s no path, only ground
    Feed on sense of escape
    Feed on sense of escape
    One dead end leads to another
    One dead end leads to another
    Call it confusion
    Or call it movement

    Premonition
    False alarms
    Same sidewalks
    No longer friends
    Exhaust all options
    Recurring dream
    A laundry list of
    Threats and promises

    So take the long way backwards
    Going up to go down
    Straight on the path goes around around around around
    till there’s no path, only ground
    Get away from the news
    Get away from the news
    One dead end leads to another
    One dead end leads to another
    Call it confusion
    Or call it movement

    So take the long way backwards
    Going up to go down
    Take the long way backwards
    Going up to go down
    Feed on sense of escape
    Feed on sense of escape
    One dead end leads to another
    One dead end leads to another

  5. Identity Crisis in the Grocery Store

    A myriad of thoughts go rummaging through my brain
    Saying “What are you doing? What are you doing?”
    I’m tired of being so nice when the norms don’t do the same.
    What am I doing? What am I doing?
    The feelings in my heart are trying to move my legs
    But get tangled every time and just end up in my head.
    Hey Miss, you alright? Hey girl you alright?
    Then what are you doing? What are you doing?
    Dramatic pause.
    Spotlighting.
    Produce aisle.
    I asked you a question.

    “I’m. Trying. To walk. Right out the door.”

    I can be the man that holds your pretty little hand
    They’ll say, “What are you doing?? What do you think you’re doing??
    You’re just a stupid girl who’s confused, don’t understand.
    So then what are you doing??  What are you doing??”
    Hesitant pause.
    Empty stare.
    Cereal aisle.
    Is anyone in there?

    Gone... right out the door.

  6. Savant Garde

    How many brain cells?  Don’t need to think about it.
    The perfect galaxy?  Don’t need to think about it.
    Most vivid color?  Don’t need to think about it.
    I’ll write a think piece!  Don’t need to think about it.

    I’m gonna check you out.
    I’m gonna check you out.
    I’m gonna check you out.
    I’m wanna check you out out out out alright.

    The king has spoken: everything that you're doing is wrong
    Don’t feel the notion of emotion that is there in the song
    Your UV needle zigzag noise marathon
    Ain't at the forefront of cool junk that I’ve hit upon
    The hypocritics come out, don’t need to think about it
    Your punk offends me somehow, don't need to think about it
    Circle jerk scene appends all the trends and then
    Pretends to know their value even though the value offends.

    How many major chords?  Don’t need to think about it.
    Rows in my database?  Don’t need to think about it.
    What’s in a masterpiece?  Don’t need to think about it.
    I’ll square the circle!  Don’t need to think about it.

  7. Exit Strategy

    Help me
    I’m stuck inside this airport
    My friends are ghosts

    Sundays
    Bones grinding slowly to a halt
    Job’s a mess

    Traffic
    There's lightning caught inside this jar
    No escape from the doom

    The girl in the magazine has it all.
    Beaches and French cuisine, vomit sprawl.
    We wish you all the luck on your journey.

    Meanwhile
    A feeling something’s gone awry
    Self esteem dream

    No time
    The city breathes another sigh
    Letting go

    Cornered
    I’ve been living like wallpaper
    Things have changed for the strange

    The girl in the magazine has it all.
    I’m sorry if this is mean: won’t miss you all.
    We wish you all the luck on your journey.
    Have a nice day.

  8. Brand New Crush

    I got a brand new crush
    An exciting new conquest
    I got a brand new crush
    A man who reads his Hermann Hesse
    While sipping tea to X-Ray Spex.

    I got a brand new crush
    He’s completely erudite
    I creep the colors on his lips
    for a fix when the thought of him inflicts
    I emulate his finger tips
    and dream he’ll be my little bitch someday

    I got a brand new crush!
    I know I’ve said it all before
    You leggy girls are all the same
    Pretty tame, your pretty makeup’s pretty lame
    I’m a rabid walking fantasy
    I came to kill before I leave.
    I shaved my legs for this.

    Throw him around like a little doll
    in a clash of dress up gender roles
    He can be my beauty queen
    Never heard but always seen
    Never heard but just obscene

    I got a brand new crush
    I’m gonna check him out
    Riding shotgun in a stare
    Like a deer, love sux if he’s not here
    There’s eye candy everywhere
    but honestly I just don’t care because

    I got a brand new crush!
    The feeling keeps me up at night
    You bitchy girls are all the same
    Pretty tame, your pretty makeup’s pretty lame
    I’m a rabid walking fantasy
    I came to kill before I leave.
    I shaved my legs for this.

    Throw him around like a little doll
    in a clash of dress up gender roles
    He can be my beauty queen
    Never heard but always seen
    Never heard but just obscene

    I got a brand new crush
    I got a brand new crush
    I got a brand new crush
    I got a brand new crush
    I’m dangerous, I’m assertive, I will cut you, let me tell you, let me tell you all about my my my my my brand new crush!

  9. Chase Scene

    Motorcycle helmet
    Number 7 on each side
    Bullets hitting hand rails
    Drifting through red lights
    The villain’s got an eye patch
    A skull for the clutch
    Overused tropes give away the scene
    as they smash through some glass carried across the street.
    But I am not your cliche.

    Technicolor menace
    Ramming like a porno
    Detour through the market
    Punch the goon through the window
    Break through the gate to the flood canal
    Make the escape when the plot’s run out
    Why do you hear these scenes and then
    assume the roles are played by men?
    Because that is the real cliche.

  10. The Mission is Failing

Recording Credits

Produced by Ryan White.

Recorded at Listencareful Studios in early June, 2016. Additional recording took place at Fraurauh Studios and the Musikschule in Treiskirchen from June to August, 2016. Mixed and mastered by Alexander Lausch at Listencareful Studios, Vienna, Austria.

All words and music written by Ryan Stark White (BMI).
Album cover design by Ryan White.

Chick Quest are:
Ryan White: vocals, guitars, keyboards & synths, percussion, effects
Iris Rauh: drums
Magdalena Kraev: bass
Marcus Racz: trumpet, keyboards & synths, piano, percussion

Additional help:
Tristan Bath: effects, keyboards

Special Thanks to:
Alexander Lausch, John Silver, Tristan Bath

More information can be found at www.chickquest.com.

Thank you for listening. Trust no one.

Reviews of Model View Controller

  • With Model View Controller, Chick Quest have created a protest album you can dance to. It refuses to let you go, making you move to its grooves whatever you are doing at the time. It’s the soundtrack to the disco we’d throw if the apocalypse was announced, and I for one couldn’t think of a better last listen before the mushroom rose in the sky. An exceptional album by an exceptional band.

    - Louder Than War (UK)
  • Chick Quest makes daring and innovative rock music as you will hear on their new LP Model View Controller releasing this Friday.

    - PopMatters (US)
  • Sounding like firm acolytes of the kosmische musik of seventies Germany, Chick Quest are one of the freshest sounding experimental groups around now.

    - Lost In The Manor (UK)
  • [...] intelligent post punk that's like a big bowl of chicken soup for the brain.

    - The Devil Has the Best Tuna (US)
  • Chick Quest zeichnen auf Model View Controller ein wirklich aufregendes und unterhaltsames Bild des unangepassten und dem Mainstream fernen Rock. Ryan White und seine Band zeigen, dass sie gekommen sind, um zu bleiben. Die Wiener Truppe hat mit ihrem neuen Album nicht nur einen, sondern gleich mehrere Schritte nach vorne getan, und zwar solche, die mit Sicherheit die Scheinwerfer noch mehr auf sie richten werden. Wirklich empfehlenswert.

    - music austria (AT)
  • Once again, Chick Quest stun with originality and timeliness. The wait is worth it.

    - NewSickMusic (US)
  • It’s dark and exciting and you can totally get lost in this new album.

    - 50thirdand3rd (US)

All other reviews


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More Music

Check out ourdebut album Vs. Galore, released in2015!

Vs. Galore