The uberverdict: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Knives Don’t Have Your Back

'The catharsis of Emily Haines'

It has often been said that a musician writes not for their audience but for themselves. The sound of music and the joy of song are used as a healing aid for the soul. Some artists fit this description far more definitively than others and on “Knives Don't Have Your Back” we witness a musician that embodies this very philosophy to a tee. Step up please Ms Emily Haines.

The sound of this second solo album (the first which wasn't widely released) from the stage-diving, wailing uber-rock princess usually found fronting Canadian outfit Metric couldn't be further from their trademark riffage and distortion. The album is effectively a collection of cinematic piano-driven songs backed with soft strings and horns and features guest spots from Sparklehorse's Scott Minor, members of Stars, Broken Social Scene's Evan Cranley and Jimmy Shaw of Metric. You get the impression from the first bar that this is the sound of late night teetering on the ivories of the living room piano in a deserted old rural country house, attempting to thrash out the demons inside ones head. As is customary with any Haines piece of work, behind the well-written melodies there lies serious intelligent subject matter. These include modern woman's dichotomy over the feminist movement in 'The Lottery' (which shows moments of elegance and melodic beauty), the widespread prescription of anti-depressants as an escape route in 'Doctor Blind' (the commercial standout track of the album) and the growing inner loneliness and despondence caused maybe by secret or unrequited love in 'Crowdsurf Off A Cliff' ("Cursed with a love that you can't express / It's not for a fuck or a kiss" makes it clear that it's not superficial, "Rather give the world away that wake up lonely / Everywhere and in every way I see you with me" reflects the emotion suffered by so many) - these are all strong topics and Haines often sits as a narrative figure beyond just herself. The emotional beauty of ‘Reading in Bed’ manages to overcome the listener like the force of gravity. When the song’s melody transforms the track around the one-minute mark the impact is uncontrollably moving, utterly mood changing and undoubtedly stunning. And there's no breathing room throughout. The expansive atmospheric that sits around this body of work is like walking through a deserted Parisian cathedral out into the deserted midnight streets and then coming to that self-realising fact that we are all effectively alone in life. It brings both a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat. With a release of this much emotional tension the cosmos should return, by way of reward, restoration and refreshment of the spirit. It probably does for Haines but not for the listener.

The fact that music can sound so melancholic, so bleak, so eerie, so spine-tingingly moving (even plodding at times) but so utterly infectious is a tribute to Emily Haines' expert songwriting ability. Recorded over 4 years and written over longer “Knives” has had real thought put into it. These are songs that delicately reveal themselves in an evocatively confessional nature. The lyrics are pure poetry in motion. The stripped instrumentation that could initially give the perception of incompleteness ends up being a masterstroke. This is because it is clear that Haines is an artist who doesn’t need studio trickery to sound engaging. She has natural talent and holds the audiences attention just by flexing it.

This is an album that grows with exquisiteness following every listen. Emily Haines is everything that the world needs. With the physical features of a Hollywood princess, the intense self-examination of a psychologist caught up in her own personal hell and the voice of someone painstakingly suffering from bipolar disorder; she breaks all the rules. Emily Haines proves she is more than just a pretty face and more than just a stage diving rock chick. With a background that includes Broken Social Scene, Metric and now this; I predict we are witnessing the female equivalent of someone like Ryan Adams, in terms of ability and consistency, being both born and flourishing.

uberverdict: 9/10

Knives Don’t Have Your Back gains an official UK release on June 4th

Video download:
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Doctor Blind [From Knives Don’t Have Your Back (Drowned in Sound) out June 4th 2007]

The uberverdict: Dinosaur Jr - Beyond

One of friendsreunited.com's finest hours came when J Mascis and Lou Barlow rekindled their differences to reform the Dinosaur Jr of old. This special event is marked by their first original line-up offering since 1988's 'Bug' (thats 19 years!) and celebrates the welcome return of the original goobers of grunge. From the first bar of the first track (the aptly titled) Almost Ready the album explodes with a sound that is both extremely reminiscent of their grunge sound of the late 80's (as exhibited on 'Bug' and 'Green Mind') but smooth, warm and cohesive enough to sound a little more updated. It fits that sunny californian frat-boy rock of the American Pie variety so honestly. Did the last 10 years actually happen or did time stand still?

Dinosaur Jr are back and 'Beyond' contains some real belters such as Crumble, We're Not Alone, This All I Came To Do and What If I Knew which prove J Mascis songwriting is as strong as ever, if not stronger than recent releases due to some expertly crafted choruses. His voice echo's with relaxed strength and there are some beautiful extended guitar solos that will undoubtedly have the youtubers donning their tennis rackets come April 21st. But Barlow and Murph's contributions have clearly been important here and Boyond even features the chugging lo-slung Barlow penned and sung numbers Back To Your Heart and Lightning Bulb which actually happen to be the least catchy of all the tracks on the album.

This being said when Mascis laments "This is all I came here to do" he's not lying. And this is the one criticism of almost every one of the past 4 Dinosaur Jr releases. Once again, this album maybe doesn't represent enough of a development in the Dinosaur Jr sound as some may hope for, but with a band like Dinosaur Jr this is only a semi-critiscim. What they do, they do so well. This album will undoubtedly satisfy fans of old and new. As Ryan Schreiber of Pitchfork said in his 'Hand It Over' review in '97 'even if this shit's got itself all predictable these days, at least it doesn't suck. The old adage "don't fix it if it ain't broken" comes to mind.' According to musical folklore bands that have been around since the early 1980's shouldn't still be writing music that gets the hoodies groovin' but with Sonic Youth only last year releasing a rather fine offering and now Dinosaur Jr re-emerging with yet another pleasant ditty it begs the question of why these bands are not saluted more-often and given their official place in rock history. Lets hope that this is not just a flash-in-the-pan reunion because the world needs the fuzzy sounds of Dinosaur Jr to keep it spinning on its axis. And with this release it will still be spinning for a few more years to come.

uberverdict: 6.8/10

MP3 download:
Dinosaur Jr: Been There All The Time [From Beyond (Fat Possum) out April 21st 2007]