Knives Don't Have Your Back [Digipak] - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton

If, like me, you've been following the progression of my writing with interest for the past few years, you'll have noticed something immediately here: this Emily Haines woman seems to turn up quite often. First she turns up as a member of Canadian super-group Broken Social Scene, before fronting her own band Metric - both of whom I've reviewed. She also gets a cameo appearance as one of the reasons why I think Canada was great. So okay, I think it's ...
...on Emily Haines. When she announced a new solo album, which she would be recording with her backing band 'The Soft Skeleton', I was understandably a little excited, if also quite worried. You see, although the charisma and charm of Haines' voice is undeniable, she's been involved with music that up to this point hadn't been particularly fantastic. Sure, everyone loves "Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl" - it's a brilliant song (why ... more

If, like me, you've been following the progression of my writing with interest for the past few years, you'll have noticed something immediately here: this Emily Haines woman seems to turn up quite often. First she turns up as a member of Canadian super-group Broken Social Scene, before fronting her own band Metric - both of whom I've reviewed. She also gets a cameo appearance as one of the reasons why I think Canada was great. So okay, I think it's time to admit it: I have the slightest of crushes on Emily Haines. When she announced a new solo album, which she would be recording with her backing band 'The Soft Skeleton', I was understandably a little excited, if also quite worried. You see, although the charisma and charm of Haines' voice is undeniable, she's been involved with music that up to this point hadn't been particularly fantastic. Sure, everyone loves "Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl" - it's a brilliant song (why don't you know what I'm talking about? Go download it!) But aside from that and the odd song from her time as front woman of Metric, she hasn't got that much on her side in terms of quality.

It's also quite a departure from her previous music, throwing out the electric guitars and replacing them with piano and hushed orchestration. As a result, "Knives Don't Have Your Back" is a haunting, ethereal album. It's dedicated to her father, the Canadian poet Paul Haines, as evidenced by the plain album cover which references his work as a songwriter with Carla Bley, on the album "Escalator Over The Hill". This isn't a depressed, angry sounding album in any way though, and it surprisingly doesn't focus on the death of her father, or death in general, instead looking at the state of several aspects of the World and casting a pale shadow over them. On the single "Doctor Blind", she attacks the medical industry for their casual attitude to prescribing drugs to anyone who claims to need them, utilising a thin line of strings that swerve in and out of her heavy piano playing to strong effect. "If the dizzying highs don't subside overnight/Doctor Blind just prescribed the blue one" she sings in a sort of jaded lullaby that begs to be sung in a smoky music-hall while fog drifts across the stage. This tone continues for much of the album, giving a real sense of atmosphere and power to the songs, which vary broadly across the somewhat restrictive spectrum they are allowed. "Mostly Waving" delivering a vaguely sinister sound as Haines whispers short verses before allowing the music to kick off into a twisted brass solo, as a trio of trombones (for I believe it is they) blare out.

And she doesn't just stop with the brass instruments either. Each new instrument or style introduced is treated as a new surprise, so when a song like "Nothing & Nowhere" switches from the piano opening to a song based around distorting Haines' voice into a disaffected electronic figure, it surprises. Sadly, that particular surprise is all that song has to offer, being a depressed and tired piece of music that doesn't kick off into the big finale it deserves. "The Lottery" is also a slightly off recording, centring around Haines' interest in the fall of feminism in society and asking several questions about what happened to the radicalism of years past. A skitterish drum and piano combination keep things interesting, but the song itself is only good when played after midnight, and you are as tired as Haines sounds. These are two songs, however, which fit in perfectly with those around them. There is no sudden burst of electric guitar to distract and make a song feel out of place, every sound here is measured and gentle. "Reading In Bed" happens to be a perfect example of this gentle consideration which is afforded every song. It's a very slow, lovingly composed ballad with Haines barely getting above a hoarse whisper as the short song builds up to a quick kiss-off that leads into a quiet finale, singing "With all the luck you've had/why are your songs so sad?" and then leaving the answer to the question up to the listener. It's a case of saying more with less.

Haines knows how to grab your attention though. Opening song "Our Hell" is a painfully optimistic song that sinks into a subdued mood whilst at the same time featuring a fortified drumbeat that steadies things along as the piano moves from introspective to aggressive and the song changes tone, Haines' cathartic voice switching effortlessly from calm to accusing within a beat. Throughout the album, Haines is the star of the music, establishing herself as a dominant and charismatic band leader who leads each song through to the conclusion using her voice, her piano, and not much else. Her voice is a sympathetic and powerful thing, a whisper which is steeled by a strong sense of conviction that makes even the sparest of ballads a stirring work of art. The dreamily disorientated "Detective Daughter" is a case in point, a sprawling piece of work which is bolstered by Haines' fragile voice as she chants "love is hell". For tracks like "The Maid Needs A Maid" and "The Last Page", her voice is the part that makes the machine, in each case elevating an average-sounding song into something higher. The notes she hits on "The Maid Needs A Maid" alone is worth getting the album just to listen to.

The overall tone of the work is dark, although the album is never feted as something depressing. The defiant optimism of "Crowd Surf Off A Cliff", which explores the life of a rock-star as a downbeat hurdle that ultimately has to be overcome. The piano that accompanies Haines as she sings at her most weary compliments her beautifully as she contrasts the perception of her that her fans have (as she did in a naughtier way previously for Metric's "Poster Of A Girl") and the reality of her life. As Haines herself says, her music is "a singalong for people who cry in the bathtub", evidenced nowhere most clearly than on the gorgeous closing song "Winning", where every line adds another layer of self-realisation into the song and develops into the most beautiful song Haines has ever produced. It's the final highlight of an album which happens to be filled with highlights, but "Winning" manages to eclipse them and is quite simply a wonderful, tragic, uplifting, heartbreaking ballad which stays with you long after the record has been turned off. It closes a professional, complex, and rewarding album which has reaffirmed my crush on one of the leading lights of Canadian music right now. 

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