Knitting By Twilight

"An Evening Out of Town" CD

It's Twilight Time

Genre: instrumental rock, electronic, experimental

Providence, RI

June 3, 2009

Knitting By Twilight lurks in the fringes between instrumental rock, electronic composition, and avant-garde music. A film-score-esque headtrip, An Evening Out of Town has the propensity to be remarkably beautiful and utterly bewildering -- which, as you might imagine, makes it an engaging if somewhat frustrating release.

Although the record is broken into distinct compositions, it's difficult to conceptualize this as a collection of songs instead of one extended composition. Clearly, this is somewhat related to the cinematic nature of the release. Still, independent moments on this disc are worthy of mention. The superb "Evelyn's Glen" matches a pretty, pulsing drone with John Orsi's multi-percussive improvisation, producing a decidedly bleak atmosphere that might accompany a film's opening credits superimposed on shots of a menacing, snow-covered Midwest town. Meanwhile, "Venus for Everyone" snags its synths from eighties film soundtracks but gives them a defiantly dystopian spin, whereas "Jaunt to Dreamland" is all mystery and wonder, and "Bell Weather" is dark catacomb music.

Like anything that's worth a dime, An Evening Out of Town takes a fair amount of time and effort to appreciate. It doesn't jump out at you, but instead slowly reveals its rays of sunshine as one carefully explores its nuances. Given a chance, however, it makes for a strangely captivating soundscape.

knitting by twilight's myspace

83%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 10 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2008]