Survival Knife's, debut album, Loose Power, is now streaming in it's entirety at Pitchfork Advance!
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Featuring Unwound bandmates Justin Trosper and Brandt Sandeno, their debut is out now on Glacial Pace Recordings.
Share the angular single "Roman Fever" via Soundcloud and catch the band opening for Modest Mouse and on a
West Coast tour in May:
Tour Dates:
05.01.14 – Portland, OR @ The Crystal Ballroom w/ Modest Mouse
05.02.14 – Portland, OR @ The Crystal Ballroom w/ Modest Mouse
05.08.14 – San Francisco, CA @ The Hemlock Tavern
05.09.14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
05.10.14 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
05.16.14 – Portland, OR @ Bunk Bar (Album Release Party)
05.17.14 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
05.01.14 – Portland, OR @ The Crystal Ballroom w/ Modest Mouse
05.02.14 – Portland, OR @ The Crystal Ballroom w/ Modest Mouse
05.08.14 – San Francisco, CA @ The Hemlock Tavern
05.09.14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
05.10.14 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
05.16.14 – Portland, OR @ Bunk Bar (Album Release Party)
05.17.14 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
When Unwound broke up in 2002, the pioneering post-rock band left a hole in the musical firmament that dozens of acts have been trying and failing to patch up in the years since. Try as they might, they could never quite reach the perfect balance of tension and release, spiny and smooth that made the Olympia-based trio’s work so damn powerful.
That is until Survival Knife came to life.
Bringing together two ex-Unwound bandmates Justin Trosper and Brandt Sandeno, Survival Knife is another bracing and energetic shot to the dome by these singular songwriters, and one that they are eager to embrace.
The first major statement to arrive from this new project is Loose Power, the debut full-length from Survival Knife, out April 29th on Glacial Pace Recordings. Working with longtime Unwound cohorts Stuart Hallerman (he recorded the album with Matt Buscher) and Steve Fisk (who handled the mixing), and mastered by the venerable Bob Weston (he of Shellac and Mission of Burma infamy), the seven-song album weds the riffage of classic rock with the feverish angular pulse of post-punk/post-hardcore.
Lyrically, Trosper circles back on the existential and global concerns that marked much of Unwound’s best material. This time around, though, his words feel more cutting and direct. He tears the financial industry to shreds (“Heaven Has No Eyes”) and touches on global paranoia (the title track), while also leaving you with the devastating image of a lone man running away from his own despair (“Fell Runner”).
Getting to this point, however, took some doing. Unlike all of his former musical brethren, singer/guitarist Trosper didn’t have any interest in music after Unwound split. Instead, he moved to Los Angeles for a stretch, going to school and helping other bands with recording projects. But after returning to his hometown of Olympia, the itch to take up his guitar against the world returned, and, with the help of longtime musical companion Sandeno and his friends Kris Cunningham (drums) and Meg Cunningham (bass), Survival Knife was born.
The quartet already garnered a great deal of attention. The West Coast has already had a taste of what Survival Knife has to offer thanks to plenty of NW dates and a tour the band did last year with Modest Mouse. And the world has been well-primed thanks to the band’s 7” releases on Sub Pop and Kill Rock Stars. Once Loose Power is in the world, there will be little hope of holding back and soon we’ll all be following Survival Knife into the abyss.
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