Butterknife
Attractions
2013
Butterknife’s slick Do The Needful was one of my favorite releases of 2012. The crisp production and hooks-for-days tunes “Restless” and “Coattails” were the sugar that made the emotionally charged subject matter go down easy. The band’s 2013 follow-up, Attractions, mines similar lyrical coal with less of the candy coating to keep your tummy from getting flip-floppy. This is grown up stuff. There are still hooks, but this time they cut a little deeper. It still sounds great, but this time the band isn’t afraid to let things stay a little ugly.
The opening riff to “Goodnight Goodbye” messes with your balance before delivering a knock-out chorus punch. “Muscle Memory” conjures the best escalator imagery since the movie Mallrats. “Afraid Of Me” has a guitar-and-vocals-in-unison run that is the perfect lead-in to another well crafted chorus. All six songs are solid. Attractions is really good. Butterknife wins.
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