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Single/Download Review
Young Knives Something Awful EPGadzook Records
Article written by
Ged M - May 24, 2015
***image***A digital download 4 track EP originally released on vinyl for Record Store Day, Something Awful marks our indiepop champions having ascended to prog heaven. Thankfully, the EP isn’t awful at all, though it does have an air of menace as it moves between whimsical and monstrous, at least lyrically. The theme of the EP is, according to Henry Dartnell, “a big change in a life”: loss of mind, trust, innocence and faith. ‘Something Awful’, inspired by Henry’s grandad’s Alzheimer’s, is punk, prog and avant garde, kicking off with synth stabs and ending with glorious stomping bursts of guitars, and sounding like Robert Wyatt, Cardiacs and finally Jack White. ‘Something Sweet’ is Wire-ish avant garde experimentalism, while ‘Something Tragic’ really pushes the boat out into Throbbing Gristle territory, all unsettling electronica and wildly oscillating synths. So it’s a relief when the EP ends with ‘Something Cheap’, all folk-prog easy listening with lots of harmony singing. This is weird and challenging and weirdly attractive too, as it strikes out for new musical territories far from the band’s indiepop origins.