Knifeworld: The Unravelling review – complex, mischievous psychedelic rock

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/24/knifeworld-the-unravelling-review

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Dullard indie rock bands may have repeatedly tried to reduce the psychedelic ethos to little more than recycled Beatles riffs and a dash of sitar, but Knifeworld have the keys to the real kingdom of lysergic wonderment. Led by former Cardiac and left-field polymath Kavus Torabi, these intuitive oddballs have conjured their own vivid sonic realm on their second album, incorporating everything from elegant pop melodies to squawking, angular metal riffs, all of it rendered in twinkling psychedelic shades and bearing an underlying sense of nightmarish unease. The Unravelling crams a vast number of ideas into its 46 minutes, but for all its complexity, melody and mischief take precedence. From the 90-second chemical rush of The Orphanage and the epic prog squall of Don't Land on Me to sinister daydreams like The Skulls We Buried Have Regrown Their Eyes and This Empty Room Once Was Alive, this is an ingenious, joyful exercise in exploratory zeal.