Slow Knife, by Kuedo

Slow Knife

by Kuedo

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Nic Brown In summer last year, the extremely promising UK label Knives released "Assertion of a Surrounding Presence" by Kuedo, an EP so original, the world has yet to catch up. Fusing bursts of cacophonous drums redolent of trap and grime with abstract but beautiful synth arrangements, it sounded like a transmission from a a distant, dying planet. Who else but Planet Mu would snap up Kuedo for a full length and although, for the most part ,"Slow Knife" is a parsec or two away from "Assertion ...," particularly in its relative lack of gunfire drums, it's still a highly experimental work that will lead certain self-satisfied journalists to ignore its icy beauty ("Warmer Light" and "Halogen Light" for example fuse neo-classical strings and piano to caustic futuristic electronics) and label it, as they have with the work of Arca, Elysia Crampton, Lotic, et al as "conceptronica", a pejorative term which roughly translated means we can't slot it neatly into an existing genre pigeonhole, it's too listenable to be called experimental, so we'll invent a reason for its existence. Ignore these fuddy-duddys and listen to "Slow Knife" on its own terms, even though we may not be entirely sure what they are. Superb. Favorite track: Warmer Light.

Matus This is just the best nocturnal album, thank you Kuedo. Favorite track: In Your Sleep.

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Compact Disc with beautiful artwork by Joji Koyama (photography) and Fabian Harb (type).

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2xLP Gatefold Vinyl with artwork by Joji Koyama (photography)

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5 remaining

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1.	Hourglass 05:13	buy track
2.	Under The Surface 02:25	buy track
3.	In Your Sleep 04:28	buy track
4.	Bending Moon 02:10	buy track
5.	Slow Knife 03:54	buy track
6.	Floating Forest 03:36	buy track
7.	Love Theme 01:57	buy track
8.	Approaching 04:16	buy track
9.	Broken Fox - Black Hole 03:44	buy track
10.	Breaking The Surface 04:38	buy track
11.	In Your Skin 01:32	buy track
12.	Warmer Light 04:13	buy track
13.	Halogen Light 02:12	buy track
14.	Lathe 02:27	buy track

about

Kuedo returns to Planet Mu with his long awaited second album ’Slow Knife’. It’s been five years since his acclaimed debut ‘Severant’ and time has proved it prescient; its futuristic trap influence is now ubiquitous. ‘Slow Knife‘ seems to return to where ‘Severant’ left off, but with the intricate sound design of last year’s haunting EP ‘Assertion Of A Surrounding Presence’ subsumed into the compositions, making them more exacting and beautifully crafted.

Between albums Kuedo has been working as a sound designer and composer for hire and the application of intent and widescreen rigour that commercial work requires has definitely found its way into the new album. ‘Slow Knife’ has the subtlety, ambition and pacing of a brilliant soundtrack - a sense of an album of scenes, that easily lends itself to an impressionistic narrative. But, as with ‘Severant’, the title suggests relationship unease, with the slow knife being a metaphor for the building resentment in any close relationship.

‘Slow Knife’ is almost two albums; the first half, according to Kuedo, invokes the seduction of the city, taking the music of Michael Mann’s ‘Manhunter’ as a cue, with the latter half being inspired by the bloody starscapes and voodoo wilderness of films such as ‘Angel Heart’, ‘Night Of The Hunter’ and more recently the ‘True Detective’ series. Both halves of the album are also in thrall to ‘Ghost In The Shell’ and Mica Levi’s inspiring ‘Under The Skin’ soundtrack, especially in the turbulence of the mid-section.

The songs of the albums first half are synthetic and seductive, a gelatinous veil with shades of the pseudo-sophisticated trance of Enigma, of all things, underpinned with dusky unsettling shadows and atmosphere. ‘In Your Sleep’, perhaps surprisingly, features the vocals of Hayden Thorpe from Wild Beasts, who settles his dark, whispered vocals into the moonlit shadowy atmosphere. ‘Floating Forest’ is the first track to allow back some of Kuedo’s experimentation with the Southern rap template, which he explored before it became commonplace, with echoed drum splashes and a sinister repetitive motif, ending with a haunting growl.

The second half of the album enters wilderness territory with ‘Approaching’s slow descending notes, before ‘Broken Fox - Black Hole’ throws the record into the cathartic darkness, as undulating chords play hide and seek with riotous reeds and scratchy strings grown from challenging collaborations with cello player Koenraad Ecker (of Lumisokea). ‘Breaking The Surface’ shivers and coils, before metal and strings dominate while ‘In Your Skin’ feels like being lost in a vast hinterland before ‘Warmer Light’ introduces some memories of sunshine, with its plucked bassline and spiralling dub. ‘Halogen Light’ opens with the sound of crickets and a clear piano, cleansing the soul before ‘Lathe’ brings things down to earth with a short, yet powerful coda.

credits

released October 14, 2016

Written and produced by Kuedo, published by Just Isn't Music.

"In Your Sleep" features Hayden Thorpe (Vocals; Lyrics).
"Floating Forest", "Broken Fox - Black Hole" & "Breaking The Surface" feature Koenraad Ecker (Cello, Co-arrangement).
"Warmer Light" features Nigel Yang (Co-production).
"Lathe" was inspired by the original piece "Lathe" by Arcane Device / David Lee Myers.
Photos by Joji Kayama, Sleeve by Fabian Harb, Typeface by Heavyweight.

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Kuedo Berlin, Germany

INFINITE-WINDOW.KUEDO.CO.UK

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