4 out of 5

Label: Polyvinyl

Producer: Jay Pellici, Ian Pellici

Ever since drummer Joe Kelly transitioned out of 31Knots, their recordings struggle, in my ears, to reclaim the same blend of energy, creativity, and crispness as those early 54’40 Recordings.  That’s not to say I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed each and every release (and frontman Joe Haege has certainly been the driving force / principle songwriter the whole time, so there’s consistency over the years), but that there was something grounding to Kelly’s groove that, in his absence, has been forcefully replaced by a more frantic playing style.  Natural evolution of a band, I suppose.  Of the post Kelly years, ‘Days and Nights’ is the record that gets the most spins in my player, finding the right blend of live sound and production tricks and taking advantage of the scratchy Pellici production style to work with Jay Pellici’s rumbly drumming and the guitar / bass dramatics to achieve an album that, after the peaks and valleys of ‘Talk Like Blood’, comes across as a fully realized picture.

Despite being on Polyvinyl and getting tagged, early on, with a RIYL Modest Mouse tag, 31Knots has had an original edge from the start, blending punk with prog with poetics to effective levels such that each genre has a punch (Haege is, to me, one of the smartest and most vicious lyricists in the current indie rock world) but nothing overwhelms or becomes obnoxious.  There are not ‘rocking’ Knots tracks or songs which lean toward one style over another – everything is just their sound.  The band, to date – yes. including their pre-54’40 stuff – has not produced a single filler track, and this album follows that trend.

An album about which I haven’t said much in particular, eh?  One great thing about the band is that if you jump on at point A, chances are you’ll dig point B as well.  Along those lines, ‘Days’ suffers from the main problem of most ‘Knots releases up to this point: it’s front-heavy.  ‘Days and Nights’ barrels at you full steam with some of the most inventive uses of samples and instruments in the band’s career, from the staccato keys and horns in opener ‘Beauty’ and the oddball theme of ‘Sanctify’ to the studio tricks of ‘Hit List Shakes,’ every song brings with it a fresh attack.  But it’s so eager and so aggressive that once it slows down to breathe – you slow down.  The last few tracks always blend together, even though individually they share the same smart writing and structure.  Still, this was the last (to this point) album that felt like a group affair, with everyone’s roles equally felt.  ‘Worried Well’ and ‘Trump Harm’ would begin to feel more and more like Haege solo outings for some reason, as his writing style became ever more incensed that it starts to fully takeover.  It ain’t a bad thing, it’s just a change.

Hopefully the group will be around for a while longer to see it go through more changes.  Thus far, none of the ‘valleys’ have been particularly deep, but there have absolutely been peaks. and ‘Days and Nights’ is one of those.