With a combination of stunning electronics, confident storytelling, and clever songwriting, The Qualia is prepared to redefine boundaries with the release of its first record, Nevada’s Greatest!  The musical project of Lars Casteen, a native of Charlottesville, VA, and collaborators, The Qualia pulls from a wide range of influences, from electro-industrial to krautrock and country, to create unique singable and danceable songs about the trials of finding oneself in the western world.

A longtime enthusiast for electronic music, Lars worked through dozens of zero budget instrumental demo tracks in the EBM/industrial dance style before setting off on a transition to full-fledged songwriting and starting The Qualia as a fully realized project.  Finding himself attracted to the storytelling song style of artists such as Nick Cave and Lyle Lovett, Lars steadily started working characters and narratives into his writing, working towards a distinctive voice and personal style.

Eventually there came a breakthrough.  In one manic, whiskey-fueled evening, Lars filled up half a notebook with diagrams, sketches, essays, and short stories, and set about writing and recording the songs that they suggested.  A period of rapid development and discovery ensued, with the project’s sound and approach constantly being refined and redefined.  Over the next two years, in four different cities and five different bedrooms throughout the US, a full-length album was produced.

Now complete, The Qualia’s first record, Nevada’s Greatest! has jsut been released by WTII Records.  The music on Nevada’s Greatest! features a compelling mixture of lush synthesizers, sequenced beats, and sparse guitars.  Built for road trips, living rooms, and dancefloors, the musicdrifts from song to soundscape, evoking nostalgia, tension, and wry humor at once.  Lyrically, the record includes a unique combination of fantastical western storytelling and reflections on current affairs, through topics bordering on personal, political, and sociological. Thanks for reading our bio.