Full, original, heartfelt and emotional are all words that could be used to describe the debut album from Palmerston North based band Datewiththeknife. Having not listened to much Indie Rock myself, I've come into this with an open mind and unbiased opinion. The results are very pleasing to my ears.
The music itself is very original, and uses many interesting recording techniques to capture the unique sound of the band. Classic guitar tones, heavily reverbed drum tracks and huge vocals form the back bone of the band while a maelstrom of epic sounds and crazy effects are thrown over the top to give off a big but not overpowering fullness.
Hints of atmospheric doom rock are coming through in the song Welcome to July. I’m loving the fullness, chords, structure and synthesizer of this track. It has a very big, droned and chill feel to it. It would sound amazing live if they managed to pull it off in the same feel as the album version. Even as an instrumental track it did not lack for fullness or feel.
Mid-way through the album the true potential of the band is coming through with a great song called D.A.D. I am reminded a lot of Interpol with the style of vocals and the building up of drums and guitars. The layering of the instruments and balancing of clean guitars with reverb, bass, tom drums and underlying synth is done very well. This album has been a journey so far and I feel like this song was the climax.
On the whole, the album is a good representation of a modern doom rock band. Huge open- ended songs that continuously progress deeper and deeper into craziness. A lot of emphasis was put into the emotional effect this album would have on a person. I feel like I have entered another world when I listen to this. The album puts some good songs out there and a very interesting take on recording the instruments and vocals. If these guys are to be doing any live shows in the future I would definitely be attending.
-Jesse Reeves
Datewiththeknife are: Dion, Mickey, Neil, JT, Gauds, Phil, Annie, Mike (vvb), James and Daniel.
Datewiththeknife started life in 2011 in Feilding out in a back shed. Datewiththeknife were the musical side project of Daniel and James. In 2012 a full band was created with the addition of Mickey, JT and Neil.
2012 also saw the introduction of the 12 songs in 12 months demo sessions. the best of these demos were recorded in 2013 for the self recorded self released LP I Read A Book About A Mountain with the addition of musician’s Gauds, Phil, Annie, Dion and Mike (vvb). Datewiththeknife was born in 2013.