Album Review: The Knitts – Retreat

Originating in an unassuming industrial area of California there lie a dozen neatly stacked repurposed shipping containers, one of these, the doors of which feature on the album cover, is the home of The Knitts, a band that has spent the last five years playing the live circuit and releasing multiple EPs and singles, before finally recording their debut album in North Hollywood and New York in a frantic week. Their debut full length album, Retreat, will be available on digital and streaming formats from tomorrow, March 3rd 2017, via Knitting Factory Records. 

Opening number, She Likes The Idea Of Gold, takes melodic power pop and infuses it with a sixties sensibility, this mix of styles is something that remains in place throughout the album, they are a band that would wear their influences on their sleeves if they were long enough. Hold Steady Pretty Lady and We Got Time takes the album into a more energetic bouncy place where the punkier side of their personality comes to the fore, before we head back to the garage with Personal Pyramid. The album continues to tread an idiosyncratic path across it’s twelve tracks, encompassing all manner of influences from the dawn of rock ‘n roll onwards.

The Knitts sound takes in a broad range of influences, from sixties psyche and garage pioneers such as The Seeds, through the seventies punk rock explosion with the Ramones and onto the later power pop and indie influences such as The Strokes, all of these elements are skilfully blended on The Knitts debut album. Whilst I doubt there are many people that will love every moment on Retreat, I can pretty much guarantee that there is something that everyone will love, The Knitts have made a unique album that refuses to be pigeonholed or attached to a specific scene, Retreat is an original and impressive debut release that deserves to be heard, and it is something that I’d recommend taking some time out to experience.

The Knitts website can be found here and their Facebook page is here

The Knitting Factory Records website can be found here