Young Knives have always seemed like a very English band. With a bassist called The House of Lords (his actual name is Thomas), a pleasing taste for tweed, plus album artwork featuring a straw man, it's hard to be sure how much of the Leicester trio's eccentricity is contrived and how much of it comes naturally.
However, put the band's peculiarities to one side and it's clear that their urgent, spiky, guitar art-rock has aged well. Mercury-nominated first album Voices of Animals and Men has an edgy intelligence that still sounds fresh today.
Now, after a good break from touring, they're back with a third album, Ornaments From the Silver Arcade. It comes out next month, and the band will play a launch show at XOYO on 6 April
With a tight, punchy sound that belies their geekish, anti-rock looks, Young Knives aren't a band you should judge on appearances too swiftly. Coupled with clever, sometimes surreal lyrics and self-deprecating banter, they're literate and likable - and can even be quite loud too.
Young Knives play XOYO in Shoreditch on 6 April. Tickets cost £12.50 and are available now.
(Image / Graham Racher under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.)
