31Knots "Talk Like Blood" (Polyvinyl)
By Tim Den
Thursday. Oct 13, 10:04 AM
No longer will you be able to pin the P word on 'em.

31Knots remained an insiders-only cult favorite during their Don Caballero / Owls early days, enough to impress the shit out of press folks like myself but unhappy with the “prog” label they kept getting stuck with. Talk Like Blood, the band’s first record on a decently distributed label, is the answer to everyone who thought they had 31Knots figured out. There are no polyrhythms, fret acrobatics, or mathematical time signatures. In fact, loud guitars don’t even come in till opener “City of Dust” is almost half over. Murky vocals, static-y beats, and what sounds like vibraphones moan their sloth selves slowly toward conclusion, as “Hearsay” picks up the baton… without much hot six-string action either. But is all of this a bad thing? Not necessarily. For one, the new 31Knots is impossible to pin down. You can’t simply reference King Crimson and call it done. “Hearsay” reveals traces of Fugazi, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, “A Lexicon” by Burning Airlines, and Liars, but only if you listen very carefully. Even then, these comparisons don’t come close to the actual song… kinda like calling Leonardo Da Vinci “a painter.” Not entirely false, but wholly missing the point.

The one complain I have about Talk Like Blood, however, is that in their pursuit of a new identity, 31Knots have forsaken much of their former immediacy. But that might just be me: a nerdy composition freak who’s addicted to studying and feasting on tasty counter rhythms and melodic interplay. Drowsy European polka-influenced indie rock (“Intuition Imperfected”) just doesn’t grab me as much as, say, “Chain Reaction” (the one instance on Talk Like Blood that sounds like the old 31Knots… albeit sleepier).

If you want true originality, it don’t come as potent as Talk Like Blood. As long as you understand what you’re in store for, you will be in love.
www.31knots.com
www.polyvinylrecords.com

Tim Den

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