Lost Knives In A Basement

Sometime last week, Manchester band Lost Knives announced a rather secretive low key gig at an unknown location in Manchester. Naturally, curiosity got the better of me and on Wednesday night found myself outside the venue, 117 Oldham Street, home of Butterfly Records, who were more used to band practices than gigs. As we entered we were directed down to the basement, where the band's gear was laid out at the far end of the room, with an eerie static projection onto the back wall.

The band made their way slowly forward through the crowd to the stage, where, after little introduction, they burst straight into one of three new songs they showcased. The first was a long, brooding crescendo reminiscent of - dare I say it - Godspeed You! Black Emperor themselves. A far cry away the other new songs - one, a raw, aggressive number that proved the band didn't need their fancy electronics and samples to sound good; and the other, written and sung by guitarist Steven McInerney - a slow sombre affair with xylophones and tender vocals.

Although blighted by problems including detuned guitars and missing xylophone beaters (I don't know how this happened, but it did), Lost Knives still put on a worthy performance. In such a short set in a basement in Manchester they proved that they had it all - the long, large epics, short, simple guitar songs and even a slow sombre number to start the waterworks. Oh, and they also proved that playing gigs in unusual venues is fucking cool. I hope to attend and put on shows in similarly obscure venues in the future.