Bent Knee have always been purveyors of all kinds of particularly gripping music, but this album cycle, the group really wants to stick their flailing arms out from beyond their experimental abyss.
Boston isn’t replete with art-rock bands, although Bent Knee have remained one of the standouts in the area, fleshing out cunning and raw, bloodshot melodies with every new record. Enter You Know What They Mean, their newest — and most perhaps personal — album, out today (October 11), with the release party this Monday (October 14).
“There’s definitely been a progression through all of our albums,” says lead vocalist and keyboard player Courtney Swain. “There was the ‘coming out of college’ existential angst album, and then the sad album and the resilience album. To me, this one feels like the ‘we’ve been around the block and we’re ready to make our mark’ album.”
Equipped with a new approach and a more humanist touch, plus their par-for-the-course furor, You Know What They Mean delivers the same avant-garde wallop Bent Knee have become known for, with an added dimension of significant storytelling.
“We were in the best place that we’ve been in, in terms of people and as a group, where I think we learned to pick our battles and just have fun writing this,” Swain adds. ”So this album really portrays us as people, in addition to our music, a lot more than any of our other records. We’re a big group with a lot of different personalities and a lot of voices, but our music brings us together. On the past four albums, you could hear the music, but you couldn’t really hear who we are.”
“Bone Rage” is just that, an absolute bone-shattering gnashing of teeth, choking on spittle in an enlightened frenzy. Other spots on the album artfully smooth out Bent Knee’s ragged melodies, like the tail end of “Cradle of Rocks” and the pacific entirety of “Bird Song.”
“We’re writing the music that we want to hear,” says Swain, “and what that ends up being is this crazy chimera of all of our influences, because there’s no one leader who really calls any of the shots. We’ve gotten really good at being honest with each other after all these years and I think you can hear that in these songs.”
Unleash Bent Knee’s “chimera” of an album below, and see them at Great Scott on Monday (October 14) with Goody Bag.
BENT KNEE RELEASE SHOW + GOODY BAG :: Monday, October 14 at Great Scott, 1222 Commonwealth Ave. in Allston, MA:: 9 p.m., 18-plus, $15 :: Advance tickets, Facebook event page
