Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Gentle Knife

Greetings once again from the Concert Closet Fellow progheads!  Leaving France was bittersweet for me; Enneade raised my intensity level and I always enjoy having the boundaries of prog pushed...good for the mind and soul.  This week my search for all things prog took a route less traveled--straight on to Scandinavia. Feeling the need to not only check out new places and different time zones, I have also been yearning for something that embodies prog in a more diverse way...combining the different "categories" of the genre into a distinctive sound.  And so I am pleased to introduce you to the enigmatic sounds of Gentle Knife.

Gentle Knife will certainly fill a phone booth...the band consists of ten members and describes themselves as a "...Norwegian progressive rock band...everything you would or would not expect...the band combines the mood of the '70s with a modern take on the genre."  That is mouthful with or without the ellipses, and the perfect hook for a proghead like me--simply gotta dig deeper!

Strolling to the prog buffet with a hankering for something with a "modern take," I find a large serving of "Eventide."  The opening imagery is a curtain drawn back to expose a grandiose performance, with top notes of King Crimson, The Moody Blues, and Gentle Giant seeping through the workings of the piece.  The shared male/female vocals add a velvety level of cool.  Horns lay low--just under the radar--but they fill the air without drowning anyone out.  Gentle Knife manages to pull a '70s prog sound into the 21st century with grace and ease.  The plethora of what is happening in this song is masked by its simplicity.

Time to saunter back for a second helping where I find this raucous piece, "Tear Away the Cords That Bind."  The opening guitar channels Transatlantic while the rest of the band discovered their inner Strawbs.  Combined with the dueling lead vocals, Gentle Knife occupies a relatively obscure section of the prog garden.  Using bright colors that spill onto a busy pallet, Gentle Knife offers a full sound with no anxiety about dabbling in the deep end of the pool.  The music cuts straight to the heart with surgeon-like precision, yet there is an ambience that is almost deceiving.  Gentle Knife draws you in with a subtle luring--a siren call--yet once the sound penetrates your auditory canals there is a placid urgency that demands attention.

Liner Notes...Gentle Knife hails from Oslo, Norway and requires a large stage when performing.  The bands consists of ten--count 'em ten--members.  Melina sings lead female vocals while Hakon sings lead male vocals and plays acoustic guitar.  Pal plays synthesizer, trumpet, and sings backing vocals, Thomas plays tenor sax, and Astraea plays flute.  Odd plays bass guitar, Ove Christian plays guitar, and Eivind plays guitar and synthesizer.  Ole Martin plays drums and percussion, and the decuplet is rounded out with Brian on samples, lyrics, and vision.  Aside from needing several tour buses and one helluva lot of roadies, Gentle Knife draws from the many flavors of the genre to create a sound that reflects classic, nostalgic, and modern prog.  The band's eponymous debut is an extraordinary concept album dealing with the tragedy of wandering onto the path of the unknown...

The final selection to close out the buffet this week is aptly called "The Gentle Knife."  Eponymous song on an eponymous album...hmmm.  Melina opens with vocals as smooth as caramel poured on a marble slab.  Soft guitar folds together beautifully with the horns, and the entire piece moves back and forth through mood swings and tempo changes on carefully constructed drum work.  Hakon comes in with darker vocals, leading you through a labyrinth of sound you aren't sure you want to leave.  Gentle Knife fills the air with aromatics of the Flower Kings and Under the Psycamore, with just an inkling of Marillion.  This is a band that studied well the sacred sounds of prog past and prog future, while setting out to define prog yet to come....

The clip posted for your listening pleasure this week is called "Remnants of Pride."  The opening flute melts away the trouble and stress of the day, leaving you deceptively calm and serene.  Of course Gentle Knife has mastered the art of sensory deception, and you fail to heed the warning until way past the point of no return.  So just sit in the canoe and flow with the current...enjoying the ride in blissful tranquility.  Learn more about Gentle Knife at http://www.gentleknife.com/.  Gentle Knife can also be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/gentleknife as well as Twitter, @gentleknife_jp.  Purchase the CD along with a bottle of deep, dark red wine, light a candle, and settle in for what should prove to be a most imaginative evening...




Spring is ending her 90-day stay in 2015 and Gentle Knife is a fitting lead-in to summer.  With horns and woodwinds to make most bands envious, Gentle Knife rolls through the prog garden  like a cool breeze on a cloudless day; soothing, satisfying, and a gateway to excitement.  A true gem was unearthed in Oslo...time now to get the Concert Closet back up and running as the search for all things prog continues to scour the landscape...until next week...















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