ARTiST: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
TiTLE: Knives Don't Have Your Back
LABEL: Drowned In Sound
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 55:32 min
SiZE: 69,3 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Jun-05-2007
RELEASE DATE: Jun-04-2007
WEBSiTE: www.emilyhaines.com
Track List:
01. Our Hell 04:10
02. Doctor Blind 03:57
03. Crowd Surf Off A Cliff 05:56
04. Detective Daughter 05:11
05. The Lottery 03:46
06. The Maid Needs A Maid 03:22
07. Mostly Waving 03:12
08. Reading In Bed 02:49
09. Nothing & Nowhere 03:25
10. The Last Page 04:50
11. Winning 05:11
12. The Bank 03:02
13. Bottom Of The World 02:44
14. Sprig 03:57
Release Notes:
Anyone who follows the Toronto music scene is no
doubt familiar with Emily Haines, the quirky
frontwomen of indie band favorites Metric, and
occasional member of the excellent rock collective
Broken Social Scene. "Knives Don't Have Your Back"
is the first commercially released solo album from
Haines, not counting her self-released and long
out-of-print 1996 debut "Cut in Half and Also
Double."
"Knives Don't Have Your Back" is a great album that
barely misses the excellent mark, with many of the
songs sounding similar and few standout tracks. As a
whole, the album is pleasant, melodic, and downbeat
- a stark contract to Haines's day job. I see this
as more of a strength, as her voice lends itself
well to piano-driven ballads, but diehard Metric
fans might not be so enthralled. The album starts
with three excellent tracks, "Our Hell," "Doctor
Blind," and "Crowd Surf off a Cliff." While none of
these songs are contenders for extensive radio
airings, they are well written and superbly executed
soft rock songs. Haines has progressed as a
songwriter over the first two Metric albums, and it
gets better here. The musical arrangements on later
tracks, such as "Reading in Bed," "The Last Page,"
and "The Lottery" are also high quality, with piano
and guitars mixing well with organs, pedal steels,
and even trumpet. My one complaint, as noted above,
is the "sameness" of the songs. Many of the songs
begin and end in a similar fashion, and none of them
are standout tracks along the lines of "Death Disco"
and "Poster of a Girl." However, I can't resist
Emily's voice and songwriting style, so I am far
from regretting this purchase.
Emily Haines is one of indie rock's most intriguing
figures, and like Jenny Lewis, she has proven that
she can work within different musical styles while
remaining distinctive. Hopefully, her audience will
continue to grow as a result.