Songwriting can be considered in a number of negative lights – a platform for vanity, an outlet for extroversion masquerading as introspection, an arena for the not-so-astute to pass as so. More often than not, effective songwriting connects on a more macro level, with a pervasive perspective that can be latched onto thanks to its familiarity. Other times, songwriting works as a microcosm of its author’s being or experience, to the point of which it deters widespread consumption, appealing only to those able to empathize with the songwriter’s ode. Between the two factions offered above, Aidan Knight falls into the latter category – as a purveyor of intimate experience and disarming inwardness.
Aidan Knight is a Canadian singer-songwriter whose musical stylings are akin, but not totally similar to fellow countrymen Timber Timbre, Chad VanGaalen, and Dan Mangan. It’s a sort of freak-folk with psychedelic sensibilities and dark lyrical undertones, but where Knight’s musicality falls in line with such comparisons, his lyrics lean toward a more solitary standing.
Each Other marks Knight’s third full-length release, his first with the support of the British boutique outfit, Full Time Hobby. A deliberate yet reticent effort, Each Other shows Knight’s sonic repertoire expansion over the past three-ish years, a follow up to his brilliant sophomore effort, Small Reveal. Knight’s third go at a record almost never came to fruition, being that the album was originally slated to release in Fall of 2015, but through extended European tour dates and the Atlantic Ocean to traverse, the release date fell into a state of flux. Furthermore, following the Knight’s return to recording the album, he was surprised to find that his producer, Marcus Paquin, had wanted to record the album “live-off-the-floor.” Knight had no prior experience recording in such a fashion, and subsequently “gave up” for two months following the completion of the album. Still, that was not the end of Knight’s string of bad luck in creating Each Other, his bassist came down with health troubles, and his drummer left to finish school. All in all, it was a turbulent process for the album to come into actualization.
Each Other paints Knight’s vision with sparse and muted tones – the eponymous opener serving as the launch pad for the album’s prevailing sentiment. “Each Other” is an excellent introduction to the full record, starting out with Knight’s pensive musing over his friends’ newborn child – “Congratulate my friends on the birth of a healthy son” – only to come to the stark realization that the grotesque beauty of child birth indicates the official end of Knight’s own relationship with the new parents – “It will seem so violent, crying on each other’s shoulders.” The track then launches into a sound and fury of instrumental clamor of pulsing synth and echoing guitar that seem to display the inevitable dissonance coming to the relationship.
Knight is refreshingly forthright with his perspective within his lyrics. Rather than use tableaus and metaphors to allude to personal experience, Knight opts for the verbalization of internal dialogue, leaving little left to force his hand. Three-hole track, “The Funeral Singers” is one of Knight’s most disarming, chronicling the end of a relationship, what it is exactly is uncertain; a romance, partnership, friendship? Knight paints a desperate picture, two people in a basement, pining for the day of yore in their relationship, but seemingly falling short. The track features an unidentified female vocalist, who duets throughout most of the song, heightening the emotional intensity of key lines, such as her introductory line - “Who knows what powers left in the words we sing to each other” – sending the bleak outlook of the song into the most despondent of states. The song breaks with a brief bridge in the earlier half as the pair duet “Flags wave in the palm of her hand / Desperate measures, different plans,” and the visceral honesty expressed in the song becomes undeniably moving. Knight’s songs are totally narrative, but the inherent candor creates a vulnerable opening for the listener to live in the song, just as Knight does.
Luckily, the story of Each Other is not all despondence and bewilderment – the record acts as Knight’s transformative manifesto following the indisputable struggles to bring Each Other to light. Knight’s plainspoken demeanor displays his lyrical faculties and musical prowess, which they beg to be heard on Each Other. Unfortunately, the album will inevitably be met with understated recognition, as is the nature of the vast ecosystem that is music, yet that seems to be the best arena for an artist such as Knight to operate.