Since 2010, Canadian band Aidan Knight, headed up by Canadian man Aidan Knight, have been putting out low-key yet well-received slices of experimental post-folk rock - that’s what I’m going to call it, willing to accept a lynching. They only recently came to my attention, though, on a friend’s recommendation, hence this little write-up of their third LP Each Other arriving a good seven months after its release early this year.
Each Other is a resoundingly intimate experience, with vocals almost exclusively speak-sung and music mixed at a uniform volume you can fall asleep to confident of avoiding any unpleasant awakening jolts. The atmosphere is close, warm and enveloping. Arrangements are considered and intricate, exemplified especially well on album centrepieces “What Light (Never Goes Dim)” and “The Arp”. The eponymous opening track’s ghostly refrains wouldn’t sound out of place on Radiohead’s latest and “Funeral Singers” shares its wintery cosiness with fellow countrymen Arcade Fire’s “Une Année Sans Lumiere” before blossoming into the closest thing the record has to a bona-fide anthem.
For all it’s admirable qualities though, Each Other is lacking a little contrast and dynamism. Perhaps the loud bits aren’t quite loud enough, or the quiet bits could be that little bit quieter, but Knight struggles to create moments that lift the listening experience from being pleasant to truly memorable. It’s also rather brief, dwindling somewhat towards the end. There’s much to enjoy here, but it won’t quite fill you up.
- Andy West