Wow! What a surprise! If you’re familiar with Knower, you probably didn’t expect a record like this. Knower\u2018s trademark sound is their blend of jazz, funk, and ethereal pop. Also, a big part of their music is how they package all these influences with beefy electronic beats and succulent synths. In fact the beats and synths have been integral to the duo’s musical identity and have been key ingredients in some of their most memorable tracks, like \u201cHanging On\u201d (from Life<\/i>).<\/p>\n
So, it comes as a bit of a shock that in Knower Forever, <\/i>the <\/i>beats are completely gone and the synths are reduced to measly bleeps, if they are present at all! Basically, Genevieve Artadi and Louis Cole have gone \u201cau naturel\u201d on this album.<\/p>\n
But Knower Forever<\/i> is still very much a dance record. It is certainly unlike any of the duo’s other records, but still as fine, if not finer. Yup, Knower Forever <\/i>is probably the duo’s best work yet.<\/p>\n
The job of providing the beats (and vital energy) to the songs here is shouldered solely by Cole’s organic drumming. Cole’s drumming have played a secondary role to electronic beats on previous Knower albums. However, you have not experienced drumming like this on any of the duo’s previous releases.<\/p>\n
Cole is an established jazz drummer, and he just lets it rip on Knower Forever<\/i>. His \u201cmachine gun\u201d drumming on parts of \u201cI\u2019m The President\u201d and \u201cThe Abyss\u201d add beautiful chaos to these relatively laidback tracks. On \u201cIt\u2019s All Nothing Until It’s Everything\u201d he goes \u201cprogressive rock\u201d with his drumming and on \u201cDo Hot Girls Like Chords,\u201d where the focal point is a headbanging guitar riff, Cole\u2019s drumming proves that one can rock out to a Knower track, as they would to their favorite metal band.<\/p>\n
Artadi adds her own magic to Knower Forever<\/i>, which is very sparse, yet dreamy thanks to her angelic vocals. Sometimes quirky and othertimes soaring, Artadi\u2019s voice maintains the feeling of familiarity with Knower\u2019s previous works and provides comfort as the listener gets used to the duo\u2019s new stripped-down sound.<\/p>\n
Speaking of stripped-down sound, this change in musical direction has enabled Artadi and Cole to create space for some fabulous collaborators \u2013 mostly jazz musicians \u2013 to show off their chops on this record. Although there have been guest musicians featured on Knower\u2019s songs in the past, these collaborations take on a whole new meaning here. Due to the lack of other instrumentation, there is a lot of room for longer guitar, piano, and saxophone solos, which are jazzy, vibrant, and at times crazy. Don\u2019t be surprised if you find yourself thinking of David Bowie\u2019s Blackstar<\/i> when listening to some of Knower Forever\u2019s <\/i>tracks!<\/p>\n
True to Knower\u2019s independent spirit, the duo has created an album that\u2019s totally unexpected. Knower Forever\u2019s <\/i>sparseness might be a blessing in disguise, as it has revealed a completely different side of the band. Artadi and Cole have challenged themselves musically, creating a work that\u2019s challenging to the listener as well. But the process of overcoming this challenge and coming to a point where you cannot stop listening to this album again and again out of pure enjoyment, is what makes Knower Forever<\/i> the duo\u2019s most satisfying work. Bravo Knower!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":35103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[10117],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-46980","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-knower","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46980"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46980"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}