Knifeworld

Expansive, kaleidoscopic and unpredictable, BOTTLED OUT OF EDEN is Knifeworld's most fully rounded work to date. There are a breath-taking amount of ideas in these songs, yet for all the precision, there is a lysergic abandon and, most extraordinary of all, the directness of the purest pop. It's rare to hear such complex and elaborate music sound as catchy and uplifting as this, or if you like, to hear catchy and uplifting music so complex and elaborate. Shot through with Kavus Torabi’s colourful and uniquely English song-writing, the album marries lush arrangements with unusual structures and a particularly singular vision. Inspired by the death of loved ones, BOTTLED OUT OF EDEN is an eleven piece song cycle of loss and hope. “One aspect of Bottled Out Of Eden is the idea of a self-made Heaven or a self-imposed Hell, that agony or ecstasy are often a choice." explains frontman and composer Torabi "I look back on the twenty five years of making the kind of music I do, particularly the last six with Knifeworld and just feel so fortunate for the friendships, experiences and absolute joy it has brought. I wanted the album to be as much about that, a celebration of this all too fleeting life, as it is a reflection on death and its impact on those left behind in its wake" In the seven years since Knifeworld’s inception, the band has expanded into an eight piece, recording 2014’s ambitious and singular album The Unravelling, about which The Guardian said “[t]hese intuitive oddballs have conjured their own vivid sonic realm on their second album, incorporating everything from elegant pop melodies to squawking, angular riffs, all of it rendered in twinkling psychedelic shades and bearing an underlying sense of nightmarish unease”, awarding the album 5/5. Elsewhere The Quietus said “[t]his is a stunning album full of moments of great beauty, infectious grooves and glorious tunes deployed to drive off the darkness that never quite gives up nipping at its heels. Making music of this nature, not to mention touring with such an extended line up and varied instrumentation, is a massively ambitious undertaking only rarely attempted in the British music scene.” More immediate than any previous Knifeworld release, BOTTLED OUT OF EDEN represents a watershed in the band’s sound. Beautiful, uplifting songs rub unabashedly with melancholic, haunting and elegiac pieces.

“After The Unravelling, which took over a year to complete, we deliberately wanted to change the variables”, continues Torabi, “to alter the approach and make something different. I love The Unravelling but it was a very difficult record to make. Rather than spending so long in the studio, constructing, arranging, recording, re-recording and adding layers of additional instruments and noises, this time round we wanted something rawer, more live sounding.” Having broken in the songs on the road during 2015, Knifeworld retreated to The Pyrenees in September and recorded the album in nine days, with very few overdubs. The songs reveal many unexpected shifts and knotty passages, exhilarating but never there to show off. The twists and turns make the straighter beats, riffs and melodies all the more joyous when they come. One unmistakably great pop tune after another throughout the album. While “I Must Set Fire To Your Portrait” shows just how far out Knifeworld can go when they wish, songs like “Foul Temple” and “Secret Words” reveal a far more languid, folk-inspired side to the band, little explored in the past. Framed by the cosmic and driving “High/ Aflame” and the punchy, upbeat “Feel The Sorcery”, BOTTLED OUT OF EDEN is a many faceted treasure from this most unique of groups.

- Q Magazine - http://www.qthemusic.com/3629/five-songs-to-hear-this-week-knifeworld-herbert-fractures-sam-airey-novo-amor-ed-tullett/

"This is a stunning album full of moments of great beauty, infectious grooves and glorious tunes deployed to drive off the darkness that never quite gives up nipping at its heels.” 

- The Guardian (5/5) - http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/24/knifeworld-the-unravelling-review

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