WE ARE KNIVES - We Have Become Like Knives

[myhomeismycastle]

We Are Knives – We Have Become Like Knives EP
December 3, 2006 · 13 Comments

WAK cover artIn everything I”ve ever said and written about this band, I”ve always made it very clear that I dig what they are doing. With this release, the result is similar. Having widely sounded out the emerald isle for over a year now with their electrifying live performances, We Are Knives have released their debut EP, We Have Become Like Knives, onto the masses via Feraliminal Recordings. And by God is it good.

The first thing that strikes me about the EP is the puzzling artwork that accompanies it. It”s a very novel concept and if you pick up the CD, make sure to spend a few minutes looking at it.

The second thing to strike me, and essentially the most important, is the quality of sound and production. If you know the band at all, you”ll know that their overly layered and progressive sound can quite easily get quite lost in the cosmos, but Einstein Studios have tweaked a sound that is finely layered, not a noise getting lost in the mix.

The songs flow well together and there”s a certain pleasure to be taken from lying back and letting yourself get lost in the complex and, at times, crashing riffs that tend to swirl through your head, creating a rhythm not unlike a thundering train, hammering along at speed.

Opting for a numerical naming convention, “1” opens the CD with an absorbing hypnotic riff, quickly joined by powerful drums and bass, stirring the listener immediately to attention. Other stand out tracks include “2” with its long and winding intro mutating into a collage of rapturous guitar licks and “4” which could easily be the prologue to an astral plane somewhere. Not to say these are the only stand out tracks though, the whole CD is tremendously on form, just begging to be put on repeat.

The CD is mostly instrumental, Hornby quipping in with vocals on only a number of short occurrences. His voice is a thorny and rugged affair, tainted with an air of desperation that suits the complicated rhythms hugely and adds to the power and potency of the music.

Over the last year, We Are Knives have shown perfectly how easy it is to side-step the “scene” and get yourself heard with a powerful and original sound. To date, they have kept themselves to themselves, played with an air of freshness, and now released an EP that backs up everything they have done with the steadfast security that they will be around to be heard for the foreseeable future.

Watch out world, soon this will beyond a local thing.

(Out now on Feraliminal Recordings and available at WAK live shows)

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