“We work slow, but we’ve never stopped playing music,” says Knife in the Water vocalist Aaron Blount. No argument there — the Austin band’s last album, Cut the Cord, dropped in 2003, back when George W. Bush was “In da Club.” Basically, forever ago. So cool, then, that Keeled Scales will release Reproduction on March 3, breaking a 14-year album drought. First track “Call it a Shame” is a gorgeous ballad, with relaxed couplets that roll out sweet and slow like honey off a spoon. The pace is absolutely unhurried, creating room for pedal steel to gently sweep and voices to form a gathering. (Deceptive title.)
The accompanying video by Dave Bryant is sourced from camgirl footage, digitally processed to “further abstract the image like a Stan Brakhage film or scrambled pay per view porn.” The resulting nostalg-o-flicker offers up occasional hints as to its source, but mainly delivers mood through hue and flare. Big “wow” that time hasn’t dulled the KITW avant-twang magic.
To hear where things began, check out their 1998 debut, Plays One Sound and Others, which is also getting reissued February 24 by Sonic Surgery Records. Meanwhile, the follow-up to Reproduction can be expected by 2031.
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