Album Review: "You Know What They Mean"

On October 11, musical group Bent Knee released their fourth album “You Know What They Mean.” After releasing their eponymous first album in 2011, Bent Knee has been fearlessly blending rhythmic complexity and powerful melodies for the past eight years. Despite the relative infrequency of their releases, the group has been creating music that consistently serves as a barometer for the evolving avant-garde music scene. Two of my favorite songs from the album are “Hold Me In” and “Cradle of Rocks.” The songs are fresh and energetic, and each one packs a lot of emotion and musicality into a small package. The instruments interact throughout the song to create a listening sensation that is beyond just the sound of the individual instrument. This ability to create a feeling that echoes the lyrics is something I believe makes good music even better. It also happens to be an art that Bent Knee has perfected over the years. “You Know What They Mean” is packed with stylistic diversity and small idiosyncrasies that you can still tap your foot to. You can even try to sing along, but it would not be easy. Something you notice right off the bat listening to almost any of their songs are the powerful vocals of keyboardist and lead vocalist Courtney Swain. Swain demonstrates in all of her work that progressive vocalists do not have to take a backseat to the guitars or the rhythm section. She also sings in a higher range that is unstrained, powerful and technically advanced. Although the album highlights Swains vocals, that is not to say that the other members of the band aren’t raising the bar for musicianship in contemporary progressive music. Not only do the other musicians have great technical ability, but they also seem comfortable with their instruments and stylistic choices. As a musician I often find that although I love prog-rock, I have to think a lot about the music, and it is almost like work to dissect each little part of a song, so I have to be in a similar mood to when I am practicing my own instrument. Bent Knee, however, creates music that you can listen to and enjoy or get into the nitty-gritty technical details of. As I mentioned earlier, Bent Knee are explorers. Each of their albums is unique, and the band has landed themselves in a place where you could say that their style is having many different styles. Their last album, “Land Animal,” is a far different album from “You Know What They Did,” but they both sound like Bent Knee. Because of this, it is not abrupt when Bent Knee releases a new album that sounds totally different—it is exciting. Overall, I would give this album a 4.5 out of 5. This album perfectly fits in with Bent Knee’s eclectic catalogue of music. Although very different from their past album, “You Know What They Mean” shows that Bent Knee have evolved as musicians and are confident in the differing stylistic choices between albums. Bent Knee’s music is incredibly enjoyable and powerful, and I think there is something in it for every music fan.