There are few who truly embrace the spontaneity and spirit of experimentation that should be a large part of making a record. It seems that
albums recently are perfectly tailored; fitted, edited beyond any recognition, and they simply become homogeneous, sterile works that seem to represent the direction the music business is taking. It’s all about the auto-tuned, pop-perfect vocals, the clean beats, the horribly synthesised instruments. It’s a false economy, cashing in on bad art. Even Bon Iver somehow went all Cher-esque on Blood Bank. Thankfully, this is where artists like Brent Knopf step in.
As one-third of the musical collective Menomena, Knopf is no stranger to an experimental approach to his music. This is an album on which he doesn’t betray his roots. Recording under the name Ramona Falls, he enlisted the help of thirty-five of his closest musical friends to assist in the creation of Intuit, and although only his sonic fingerprint is immediately visible, the pure breadth of the musical scope seems a little impossible to credit to a single person. That’s not to deny the abilities of the man himself – he is a multi-instrumentalist in the best sense – not only can he play the instruments, he excels himself on them. Tracks such as “I Say Fever” and “Clover” have a skewed and dark but undeniably danceable feel, especially the former. Its infectious, dirty rhythm, delicate piano and jagged guitar lines compliment Knopf’s thick vocal delivery in the choruses, and with this it’s hard not to notice how profound his contributions are in Menomena’s work. There seems a guarded feel to his music, undoubtedly sung out from the heart but hidden cleverly behind articulate structures that form the tracks. That’s not to say that in any terms that this music is impersonal; quite the contrary, but it can seem rather indirect at times.
This initial obliqueness soon disappears when the album hits “Going Once, Going Twice”, a slightly fragile, acoustic-driven number in which the vocals quiver ‘I’m desperate just to find/A rest bed, for my mind’. It is moments such as this, and equally so in “Salt Sack”, where the album really opens up. As the last note rings out in “Diamond Shovel”, it becomes clear that Brent Knopf’s strengths truly lie in these subtle, ephemeral moments, opening a window to where the heart lies in his music and allowing us, for a fleeting moment, to enjoy the view.
If this elusive heartfelt honesty is an invisible attribute to some, Knopf has the formula to reveal it. Intuit is a brave effort, and ultimately, a rewarding one.
My rating? 7 out of 10.
Intuit is out now on Barsuk Records.
