Last week, Helsinki-based Indie Pop artist, Knife Girl, released her second album, Uniform.
The LP consists of different lyrical themes mixed with fun, mostly upbeat, instruments that dive deeper into Knife Girl’s more overtly rock inspirations. Uniform acts as a perfect balm to the often genre defying concepts that Knife Girl has forged with her career thus far.
The LP begins with “Stop Time.” This track is almost misleading as to what you have in store for the rest of your listen through the album. It begins slow and more laid back than the other songs on the record. According to Knife Girl, Uniform had a much more thought out songwriting process compared to her other releases.
The album continues and picks up with “The Good Times Are Coming Your Way,” it’s more upbeat and includes a lot more instruments and was released as a single in August.
“I wrote ‘Good Times’ when I was really struggling with my mental health. The lyrics address the listener but also myself. I’m just sort of wishing that everything is gonna be okay, even though I can’t know for sure. I’m not religious, but I think it’s funny how we use a lot of religious phrases to wish people well, like “I’ll pray for you”, so that’s why that’s in there. The many layers of guitar, piano and brass work as the backbone of this track. I couldn’t have done this without the band.”
The next track, “Ready for Love,” starts as more of a piano ballad but gradually gets into being a great mix of horns added in after about the first minute. This song demonstrates the vocal range Knife Girl has and shows how much fun she has with her songs.
“Never Let Go” proves to be another fun, guitar leading, upbeat song. It’s still following along with the love theme while adding in back up vocals as another layer. “Precocious Baby” is next and has a funky guitar noise throughout and levels back out to something more chill. Continuing this trend is “On the Line.” Guitar leading but again picks up and leads into something more upbeat with various instruments.
Keeping up with the more chaotic and upbeat feel, “Brain Dead (Just Do It)” starts with background vocals saying the classic “just do it” saying. It’s almost acting as the voice in the back of your head. At the end, Knife Girl kind of goes into screaming “just do it, what are you afraid of.” It then drops right back down into something that’s more laid back and relaxed.
“Will This Catch the Algorithm?” starts out different from the others with only a distinguished drum sound in the beginning. Many other instruments continue to add in. The vocals in this song are only “will this catch the algorithm.” It’s obviously a very instrumentally heavy song, highlighting her band and the different musicians she works with.
“Whisper” is the last track on the album and it starts with more of an electric soft rock feel. Continuing with the love theme, the song has lyrics like “your love is a whisper.” The distinguished solo drum sound from “Will This Catch the Algorithm” is heard again near the end of this track and this track goes out with an upbeat sound that makes you want to get up and dance, a great way to round out the album!
Releasing music since 2013, 21 year old Lili (aka Knife Girl) has 5 EP’s under her belt, and has collected more than 12 million listeners on various streaming services. Knife Girl released her debut EP ‘Metro’, in June 2021. Uniform finds Knife Girl once again exploring new terrain, adding more twists to her musical accomplishments thus far.
Album rating: 7/10
Our favorite tracks (in no particular order):
- “The Good Times Are Coming Your Way”
- “Will This Catch the Algorithm?”
- “On the Line.”
Stream Uniform!
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