Were it not for an almost accidental affiliation with the modern prog rock scene, Knifeworld would surely have been embraced by the indie mainstream years ago. Bottled Out of Eden arrives as the band begin to make inroads in that domain, but rather than imbue their sound with a little Tame Impala-like polish, this is an even more adventurous and cheerfully skewed exercise in prog-tinged psychedelia than 2014’s stunning The Unravelling. Uplifting, euphoric and spacious where its predecessor was claustrophobic and gloomy, Knifeworld’s third album takes in blissful krautrock sermonising (High/Aflame), snappy art rock (The Germ Inside) and mutant jazz-rock grooves (I Am Lost) – and that’s just the first three songs. Students of this stuff will spot shades of Gong, Henry Cow, XTC and Shudder to Think lurking amid the angular rhythmic twists and elegantly perverse arrangements, but frontman and ex-Cardiac Kavus Torabi’s greatest skill is his ability to cram incisive but wonderfully alien melodies into every misshapen sonic nook. This is a big, vivid, lysergic joy.
