Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3.5/5 Released: September 12, 2006 Reviewer: David Coats |
As the singer for Canadian buzz band Metric, Emily Haines has earned a reputation for her powerful voice and at times cheeky pop lyrics, which makes the departure from that sound on her first, long-overdue solo release all the more dramatic. Without any hint of upbeat arrangements, the eleven songs on Knives Don’t Have Your Back are all somber piano-based ballads.
The record’s lyrics are so hard-earned that it’s as though the music is representative of the struggle to live them. This makes for something profound and no doubt therapeutic, and she deserves credit for doing something so unexpected; unfortunately, eleven consecutive songs performed in much the same style gets taxing, and leaves the listener wishing for some contrast. The record does, however, contain a number of interesting song structures and beautifully mixed, subtly unsettling musical flourishes, particularly the use of a string quartet and organ on bleak first single ‘Doctor Blind,’ and the use of horns on the otherwise monotonous ‘Mostly Waving.’
Where this record really shines, is vocally and lyrically. As best demonstrated in ‘Crowd Surf Off a Cliff,’ Haines’ voice is powerful and controlled enough that by making the most minute changes in her delivery, she can draw you in by capturing what it means to attain strength through vulnerability, artfully portraying her introspective and, at times, gusty lyrics. A handful of songs, including standout ‘The Lottery’ and ‘The Maid Needs a Maid,’ speak to greater societal issues about the role of and treatment of women, coming across a little like a Margaret Atwood novel set to music. However, it is ‘Detective Daughter’ that contains Haines’ most vivid statement: “Love is hell, hell is love / Hell is asking to be loved…To thy self be true.” Knives Don’t Have Your Back is a risk, certainly, but is ultimately as rewarding as it is challenging.
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