Knife & Fork - The Higher You Get, The Rarer The Vegetation

When the title of an album is taken from a Salvador Dali quote, you know that, at the very least, it’s going to be an interesting listen. It’s worth obeying the order you get from ‘I Count The Days’ to “Listen closely / Hear the nature’s sounds,” although arguably there aren’t many natural sounding noises on this record. ‘The Higher You Get, The Rarer The Vegetation’ is the exact opposite of easy listening. In a good way, of course. Like the works of the artist from which its name was taken, it’s a surreal delve into darkness and emotion, with evocative sounds being the order of the day.

‘Tailspin’, one of the more ordinary songs on the album, is a slow and slinky example of the darkness that pervades the album, with Laurie Hall’s vocals balancing ethereal and deeply real at the same time. It’s followed by album highlight ‘Pocket Rocket’, with its heavy guitar riffs and strong sensuality; spelling out words isn’t the most original way to come up with lyrics, but here it works. Here, even a descent into jazz, as a saxophone starts freestyling over guitars towards the end of the song, works. It just does.

Another standout track, ‘Nicotine’, possesses levels of theatricality that might befit a song called ‘Heroin’, or some other hard drug rather than one named after the “sweet perfume” of cigarettes. Hall’s vocals, again, are a big part of why everything fits together so well. 10 minute opus ‘The Revelator’ is certainly one of the most interesting listens here; it meanders, lazily, almost enticing you into a kind of trance; but then, half way through, Hall becomes almost an evil witch, a Disney-esque villainess who threatens with sickness whilst at the same time being sick herself. There’s something fallible about her, even whilst her vocals and the music as a whole takes a turn for the sinister.

With one of half of Knife & Fork being comprised of Eric Drew Feldman, a multi-instrumentalist with a back-catalogue that includes work with the Pixies, Captain Beefheart and PJ Harvey, it would’ve been disappointing if ‘The Higher You Get, The Rarer The Vegetation’ had been anything less than what it is. Heck, it could’ve been even weirder, even more experimental, and it probably would’ve still sounded awesome. The album is kept short(ish) and, for the most part, easily digestible, if not as a whole then with individual tracks. It might take more than one or two listens to really appreciate it, but it’s worth your time.