"Expect the Unexpected" - this motto by Peter Gabriel could also apply to the American art rock sextet Bent Knee. While the graduates of Berklee College Of Music have delivered their most accessible song collection with their predecessor "Land Animal", the fifth album "You Know What They Mean" is their most radical statement, which occasionally disturbs with harsh sounds, on the other hand reconciles with emotional art rock songs.
Courtney Swain had already indicated it a few weeks before the interview with eclipsed: "Land Animal" sounds straighter than its three predecessors. However, a commercial sale has by no means taken place. Instead, the album is overflowing with original ideas - and the fact that one or the other chorus stays in your memory faster is by no means a disadvantage.
eclipsed: Your second album "Shiny Eyed Babies" hit German progfans like a bomb. How has your life as a musician changed since then?
RIVAL SONS - Tied Up (3:25)
Album: Hollow Bones (2016)
Label/Distribution: Earache/ADA/Warner
www.rivalsons.com
When the Californians gather for their recording sessions, a lot of 70s stuff - musically meant - has to race through their brains; grooves, vocals, song construction seem to come directly from that time. Beside Bluesrock there are also soul and psychedelic parts like in this song.
A good year after their dazzling second work "Shiny Eyed Babies", Bent Knee from Boston are following up with "Say So". Once again the sextet, who met at Berklee College of Music, oscillates between modern art rock and more experimental sounds, but also breaks new ground.
ARENA - The Demon Strikes (4:12)
Album: The Unquiet Sky (2015)
Label/Distribution: Verglas/Soulfood
www.arenaband.co.uk
With "The Unquiet Sky" ARENA have found their way back to the form of their early years. Her eighth studio work extends her proven virtues with classical and film music elements. In top form the leading trio around singer Paul Manzi, keyboarder Clive Nolan and guitarist John Mitchell presents themselves.
The Berklee College of Music in Boston has long been known for preparing ambitious young instrumentalists and singers for a career in the music business. Pat Metheny, Steve Vai and the three Dream Theater founders attended the renowned university. Bent Knee also come from this environment.
