Doomed Bird of Providence - You Brought the Knife

  by Erick Mertz

published: 8 / 9 / 2015

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What interests me musically and what I’ll listen to a hundred times over are often very different things. Sometimes I need that caveat out in the open before I describe a record. The Doomed Bird of Providence’s 'You Brought the Knife' came to me on an unexpected whim, an EP without much fanfare and what I found is a bizarre but magnetic view of early Australian history. Told from the point of view of Maria Murray, a 19th century slave convict who found her way to Van Dieman’s Land by way of London, the five song EP is sometimes grating, often jarring but it’s never something you can turn off. Such is the way when your lyrics are drawn from court transcriptions. The Doomed Bird of Providence have made this foray into history their niche. Band head Mark Kluzek has been working on grim, musical narratives for six years, and I would love to hear how he dealt with the rest because You Brought the Knife is my current favorite approximation of a colonial nightmare brought to music (strike that, it’s my all time favourite in that very refined genre). Kluzek obviously knows his audience. I don’t, which is why I throw the opening caveat out for your consideration. This isn’t exactly the record you’ll put on when your mates drop by the flat wanting to know what disc you’re spinning (because, you know, you’re into interesting). You’ll want to hear it though. Once you do, you won’t be able to really claim the same skin as before.

Track Listing:-

1 Untitled
2 I Weave Through the Trees
3 In the Sleepy Summer Noon
4 On the Deck of the Borneo
5 He Was Out at Sea

Band Links:-

http://doomedbird.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Doomed-Bird-of-Providence/661149022
https://twitter.com/johncroaker
http://doomedbirdofprovidence.tumblr.com/
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Doomed+Bird+of+Providence
https://thedoomedbirdofprovidence.bandcamp.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.frontandfollow.com/
https://www.facebook.com/frontandfollow?_rdr=p
http://frontandfollow.tumblr.com/
https://twitter.com/frontandfollow

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