By Jim Rowland
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Oxford art rockers Young Knives – seven years to be exact since their last album ‘Sick Octave’. Now they’re back with a new album ‘Barbarians‘, their fifth full length opus. So, what do the former indie darlings and Mercury Prize nominees sound like in 2020?
Back in 2006, Young Knives were quick off the starting block, with debut album ‘Voices of Animals And Men’ garnering that Mercury Prize nomination and achieving chart success. It was a fine album, as was 2008’s ‘Superabundance’ which achieved similar chart success, and those are probably the two albums that the band are best known for. However, they seemed to grow tired of major label pressures and opted to start their own label to free themselves of those pressures and take greater control of their music. The first album on their own label Gadzook, 2011’s ‘Ornaments From The Silver Arcade’ split opinion, taking a lighter and more pop oriented approach, and it’s fair to say the band fell off of a lot of people’s radar at that point. However, there are benefits to going your own way and controlling your own destiny as this band have done, and this new album ‘Barbarians’ certainly confirms that, sounding like an album made to their own specifications with complete freedom and artistic control. And artistic it certainly is.
The reason they give for waiting seven years to make it is that, simply put, they needed a good reason to make one. Reason enough came from observing the world’s ills becoming exacerbated through much of the last decade – the rise of the alt-right, and divisive politics providing just some of the stimulus. The key inspiration for the album though came through reading the philosopher John Gray’s book ‘Straw Dogs’. Central to the book’s argument is that no matter what progress humanity makes, or what advances we make in our understanding of how the universe works, we as a species have become no less barbaric. And that is largely the concept that drives the album.
Given the sinister nature of the album’s lyrical concept, it’s no surprise the music follows suit. The album’s ten tracks cover terrain that is twisted, dark, sinister, powerful and challenging, exemplified by the opening two cuts of ‘Swarm’ and the recent not-remotely-commercial single ‘Society For Cutting Up Men’, and the totally deranged ‘Red Cherries’. It is still just about recognisable from the Young Knives of those earlier days, but a huge artistic progression, utilising electronic sounds with traditional instruments to great effect, with a vocal delivery that often reflects the twisted nature of the music.
Young Knives have always had the ‘art rock’ tag thrown at them, and ‘Barbarians’ is art rock in the truest sense – intelligent, challenging, creative, artistic and progressive. It’s also quite possibly the best thing they’ve produced to date.
- ‘Barbarians’ is released on 18 September. You can get your copy, and loads of other Young Knives goodies, HERE.
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