North of the border, Chris Gordon has been putting it about a bit. We've been encountering him on and off thanks to the dark power rock of Deckard over the past 18 months or so, but it turns out this is only the tip of a Titanic-sized iceberg of activity.
For starters, he's becoming a producer/ mixer of note, with his byline gracing releases/ demos by the likes of El Presidente, Terra Diablo, Dead Fly Buchowski, El Presidente and Jupiter & Teardrop and even some Snow Patrol B-sides. Quietly, he's also been indulging in some remix work for people such as Craig Armstrong as well as tending bar at inflential Glaswegian indie haunt Nice'n'Sleazy along the way.
If all this wasn't enough to have you wondering how Chris found the time for luxuries like eating and sleeping, then you should also take into account the fact he's been busy formulating UNION OF KNIVES with Sleazies sound engineer Dave McClean and vocalist Craig Grant: a broody pop/ rock affair who are announcing their extra-marital liaison with this self-titled EP.
And the two tracks within make for interesting aural fare. "Evil Has Never" is a dark, claustrophobic set-piece based around a menacing synth riff and a curdling minimalism. It's considerably less 'rock'n'roll' than anything I've previously heard from Chris Gordon, but no less intense for that. Over primitive loops and that incessant synth burble, a tense boy/ girl dialogue is spun out with unsettling snippets like "don't waste words with me" and "evil has never loved you the way I do" emerging from the murk. It doesn't appear to come to any definite conclusion, but surely covets disappintment and betrayal.
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Second track "Operated On", meanwhile, is equally dark, with squally analogous interruptions, farty basslines (Peter Hook after a dodgy vindaloo, anyone?) and bitter'n'twisted vocals. Again, the shadow of the femme fatale shadows Grant's vocal and the likes of Death In Vegas and The Young Gods hang heavy in the background.
Union Of Knives, then, are already sounding steely and tempestuous. They may not yet have quite got to the point yet, but are scoring around your heart with glee.
(get free download from: www.7digital.com/downloads/union)
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