Young Knives - Superabundance

Genre indie-rock Publisher Transgressive Records External Links The Young Knives Website

The Young Knives sound like a bunch of Geeks who live in their own strange yet nifty pop culture world. Another band from England, all three members look like they have Buddy Holly fetishes. That aside, they wield their own brand of rock, and it's not all bad. Their second full length album with Transgressive Records called Superabundance peaked at 28 on the U.K album charts.

Superabundance begins with 'Fit 4 U'. It's the kind of song that these guys were born to write and sounds a lot like a nerdier version of the Smiths. 'Terra Firma' was released as a single and I don't really understand why. It's not a good song and in many ways is downright annoying. There is nothing appealing about this song, the music is lackluster and the melodies are boring. It's not even as good as the album first offering 'Fit 4 U'. 'Up All Night' was another single that was released before Superabundance hit the shelves and it's much better than its predecessor. It sounds like true geek rock. The guitar has enough gain to give it an edge but I liked the bland tone of the bass behind it. The percussion is fairly basic but picks up a little bit when it incorporates hi-hat shuffle patterns. The vocals are ok but still nothing to write home about. 'Counters' is a better song than both singles. The slap bass is funky and really catchy and the tempo is rapid yet steady. The song also has enough dynamic between bass and guitar licks, and the vocals accompany the music's attitude quite nicely.

The third single from Superabundance is 'Turn Rail' and was by far the best decision. This song again has a Smith's like sound that is retrospective of the 1980s. "These are my hands, these are bricks walls, men can break down brick walls" sets the stage for this song which takes on a different theme than most of Superabundance's other tracks; it comes across as much more personal and sincere. 'Dyed in the Wool' is a fairly solid track. I enjoyed the fact that bass drives the instrumentals because you don't really see that much in contemporary music of this kind. Where as the guitar usually leads the melody in most songs it instead plays a hazy sort of melody that gives the song a sense of atmosphere. 'Flies' is the only ballad like song from this album and it is laughable for the right reasons. Although songs like this should be deep and heartfelt, taking the album's previous sounds into account is essential, and because of this I found it impossible to take this track seriously. The thick dorky British vocals lack passion and certainly does not accomplish what it was intended to do. 'Mummy Light the Fire' is much of the same. 'Current of the River' is a song that sounds way too much like Smiths. At times it goes away from anything that Morrissey and company might have done but is still mostly unoriginal.

When talking about an album such as Superabundance, it is important to consider what The Young Knives are all about. Although I could be wrong, I just got the feeling that these guys have good ideas, but there music lacks the zeal to make it anything that is even mediocre. This being said, there are some high times during Superabundance, but unfortunately for The Young Knives it is mostly a bust.