We have spoken about Knifight before here on the site, but there are two reasons why we need to bring them up again. The first is the show they are playing tonight. It’s a night being presented by $2 Shows and vivogig that will celebrate the works of 11-year-old music photographer Jackson Potts, who is having a showcase here in town. The kid is talented, no doubt, but what caught our eye was the stellar lineup of OVRLD favorites The Shears, Zeale, Les Rav, youngsters Residual Kid, Houstonian Kuumba Freeque, and the one and only Knifight. In addition there will be tons of other local artists, and Lauren Bruno, of both $2 Shows and Les Rav, has personally assured me that there will be fire dancers. The show is tonight at the 29th Street Ballroom from 7pm-2am.
The other reason to talk about Knifight right now is that they recently released a new EP, and it may be my favorite album title of the year: The End is Knifight. (It’s like a pun…get it?…okay, I’m kind of a nerd.) Over the course of this EP, Knifight are at their best when stretching out their tracks, mining songs for every last emotional high. Tracks like “Eva” or “Slow Decay” repeat the same basic beat beyond five minutes, allowing the listener to revel in the glistening synthesizers and hypnotic drum machines. As a commenter in our last major post on Knifight said, they’re like a combination between LCD Soundsystem (the electronics/repetition) and Joy Division (the baritone, nearly-monotonic vocal delivery/darker atmosphere). Yet they manage to consistently maintain their own voice across the entire EP. Even a shorter song like the above “Never Coming Home” propels forward relentlessly through vocal layers and shimmering chords. It’s a formula that Knifight works well without ever sounding formulaic. Though their song endings seem almost random, they clearly know exactly the right time to duck out. Which is fitting, since the end is…Knifight!
Be sure to get to the show early tonight – Knifight goes on at 8:30. Also, check out their latest EP at their Bandcamp page.
– Carter