Knitting Circle – Deciduous Climbers (self released)
Formed in York in 2023 Knitting Circle make socially-conscious and urgent post-punk, brilliantly showcased on their debut EP Deciduous Climbers
Artist: Knitting Circle
Track: Deciduous Climbers
Label: Self released
Released: 14 June 2024
Find it: Bandcamp | Spotify
It’s been a while since a song has resonated so immediately and completely with me. It used to be songs of unrequited love, passion urgently reciprocated, the recklessness of experiencing highs and lows for the first time, mistakes coming around again that spoke directly to me – sometimes they still do.
But in feeling seen it is the perimenopausal anthem Losing My Eggs by Knitting Circle which takes the prize right now. And if there is to be an anthem for this time of life, the visceral physicality of it and the challenge of dealing with that as well as the diminished status society pins on us, then this song has to be it: the frustration, the shock, the accidie.
While it’s this track that drew me in, the rest of the Deciduous Climbers debut EP from the relatively newly formed (2023) York band certainly hooked me in to staying around. They describe it as ‘socially conscious and urgent post-punk’ and this sets the scene nicely and comes as no surprise when you find there’s members of Milky Wimpshake, Crumbs, Red Monkey and No Fit State here. A potent, and rewarding, mix.
The nearly spoken-word vocal style meets with angular guitars at times echoing with the math / alt rock of Cable (Beneath the Pavements) or the shoulder-to-shoulder twinkling melody and sludgy riffs sharing much good stuff with Charley Stone and The Actual Band (Dance for Peace).
There is even something of The Thyme Machine and The Lovely Eggs in the playful lyrics, and sound homages to so many styles and scenes which have passed before in tracks like Gladioli Tidings. Like Losing My Eggs this is another track which on first listen hit my middle-aged target. Repeat listens delight further with the lyrical puns, while making the sap rise once more with the hope and resilience here: ‘Gladioli tidings for our impatiens / as we rose between the thorns / all spindly shoots and freckled foliage / reaching toward the light – we rise’.
And that social conscience is turned up to blunt force on They’re Telling Lies, a wah-wahooing guitar line a subtle but great nod to sirens while a relentless beat pounds on. There’s somehow a claustrophobia about the track, the removal of control just a door-knock away.
A great debut EP all together. Catchy and melodic with a fantastic turn of phrase lyrically near the surface of each song so you’re drawn in on first listen but with enough detail to keep you coming back and hearing something new with each repeat.
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Deciduous Climbers by Knitting Circle is out now on digital and CD.
Find Knitting Circle: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram
Upcoming live dates:
- 28 September – Dubrek Studios, Derby
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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