AIDAN KNIGHT
AIDAN KNIGHT
plus guest ^Upstairs^On his third LP he sounds closer to Smog’s Bill Callahan, his forlorn baritone suffused with a world-weariness that suggests a singer twice his age and experience. UNCUT
Somber and yet stirring, Each Other is an album that encourages shoe gazing, day dreaming and simply settling into quiet contemplation.PASTE
Easy on the ear yet hard on the heart, Aidan Knight has delivered something very fine indeed.CLASH MUSIC
On Twitter, Aidan Knight writes often and fondly about food, so it’s fitting that his third LP, Each Other, features serving instructions in the liner notes: “To achieve the greatest quality, please enjoy these recordings on your home stereo system or stereo headphones.” Heed his advice: Each Other is delicate, intricate, and best enjoyed with a bit of care to do justice to its meticulous assembly.
This careful crafting doesn’t come at the expense of raw emotion. Knight’s lyrics looked inward on 2012’s Small Reveal, but this followup focuses on connecting with others — friends, lovers, family — while also streamlining his sound, trading in Small Reveal’s ambling orchestral passages for tightly-wound rock tastefully textured with smoky keys and punchy trumpets. Though the post-rock roots Knight displayed on debut LP Versicolour aren’t as apparent here, the album itself takes on the genre’s “quiet-loud-quiet” format, clustering all its warm, open-armed anthems into the middle while using the darker tracks to grab the listener at the beginning and ease them out at the end.
A veritable three-course meal, Knight’s refined palate and keen attention to detail make Each Other a well-paced, flavourful experience that ends too soon, but lingers long afterward.