Skeletal Lightning and Knola are excited to announce the band’s debut full-length. The LP, entitled To The Rhythm, is officially out June 10th and is now available for pre-order on LP, CD or tape. Digital pre-order available on Bandcamp.
You can listen to the first single from To The Rhythm now. Check out “Cottage Grove” below.
Knola features members of Xerxes, William Bonney, Oliver Houston, Boy Rex, and Midwest Pen Pals. To The Rhythm follows up the band’s debut release, The Black Beach EP, which you can also check out on Bandcamp or Spotify.
Some bands have interesting geographies. Knola just happens to be one of them. This band was formed after the storied (if oft-overlooked careers) of emo’s second string — The Exploration, Midwest Pen Pals — and hard-edged cult classics Xerxes and WIlliam Bonney. As such, its point of origin can’t be traced to a specific scene cluster or genre convention, but multiple points of convergence. If one were to suggest an allegiance based on title alone, the collective’s debut LP, To The Rhythm, emphasizes melody over monstrosity.
To do so, Knola has scattered various landmarks throughout this record which stack slabs of contrasting indie-rock glitz and emo-rock understatements against each other. The collision is palpable on “Cottage Grove.” Vocalist/guitarist Jack Senff takes a trip through a living room, under the chandelier, and finds his body drifting down and swaying lightly to the sound of music. This near-sleepwalking is matched with a lazy delivery — even though the disco beat percussion in its midsection wished the whole production would stand up straight. “Ruby Beach” maintains this steady slouch. A measured backbeat coaxes Senff’s vocals upward but his storytelling outward away from introspection. “There are giants in the water,” he reports between phases of near-falsetto. Any chance of interiority is squashed by escapism.
So, then, what happens when Knola’s surveying course strips away the specifics, instead supplying raw outlines for titles like “Fabric” and “House”? On the former, guitar rock is strung together by driving rhythms all around. Even the downstrums here lock in a different gravity. Although this track precedes a trip to the aforementioned beach, it grounds a secondary narrative only supported overhead by “House.” There, a delectable chunk of indie-rock awaits, but the interiority finally cracks past a shimmery veneer. After a breathy, ambient opening, there’s a shout over mid-tempo chords and a self-conscious confession. “How do I say I want to escape from the perfect life we lead?” There are no giants in the water here. There’s only an elephant in the room. Senff’s escapist mantra doesn’t last throughout the LP, but what does is a stunning portrait of human interaction: no fantasy play can truly mask the imperfect, often mean world which circles underneath. As least with Knola, the horror splays across state lines in a way that bleeds with conviction, not callousness.
To The Rhythm Track Listing:
1. Moving Along
2. Weight
3. Cottage Grove
4. Fabric
5. Ruby Beach
6. Earth Noise
7. House
8. Winter Skin
9. Fireworks
