ALBUM REVIEW: The Velveteers – ‘A Million Knives’

When you get a band with a non-traditional composition of players, there will likely be questions asked about necessity and purpose. In the case of The Velveteers and their unique position as a trio where two of the members are drummers, the answers mightn’t inspire much confidence. Do the two drummers accomplish anything that one couldn’t? No, not really. So is it necessary to have them both there? Probably not. More bizarrely, a third joins the fray on this new album, as The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney plays on Go Fly Away, a song with among the least to show for that many tub-thumpers being in the mix.

It’s likely because The Velveteers’ producer is Dan Auerbach, who evidently isn’t averse to enabling their more off-piste decisions, despite some well-telegraphed hazard warnings. It sure would explain their debut Nightmare Daydream, a garage-rock album that was surprisingly stingy on groove and firepower, or all that much that didn’t hang unsupported in stagnant, unatmosphered air. The fact it wasn’t simply the ‘classic’-rock fossil collection getting a dust-off would suggest either an outfit craving unconventiality at every turn in a sound that’s anything but, or one that genuinely doesn’t know the best recourse for making this work. The likelihood is maybe a bit of both.

On the bright side, A Million Knives at least has The Velveteers privy to the value of a good first impression. Opener All These Little Things is sound-standard garage-rock, but it’s got its bearings sorted. That’s more than can be said for the rest of this album, which stops shy of growing its fundamentals into something appealing. That’s more than its predecessor had, if you fancy breaking your own back to assert that The Velveteers are, in fact, improving, though what does that actually mean with the evidence at hand? Very little, unfortunately, given that A Million Knives severely struggles to make something of itself.

To address the elephant in the room first, there’s still no need for two drummers. There’s especially no need for three on Go Fly Away, in which more hands paradoxically leave it as canned and sanitised as an already-awkward alt-pop gearshift can be. As for the core unit, when they aren’t clipping the mix with horrendous abandon on Suck The Cherry or Fix Me, their contributions meet around being rudimentary and unremarkably competent. Given that a percussion section has been bestowed upon The Velveteers as their predominant feature, you’d expect way more highs than what they give—some solid get-up-and-go on Sweet Little Hearts and an appreciated bit of gentle texture on Up Here. Otherwise, the strengths are hardly noticeable.

That isn’t an issue exclusive to the drumming, either; the torrent of ugly, overmixed sounds on most of A Million Knives is positively ruthless. It’s indicative of the same dynamic between the band and Auerbach that caved their debut, where neither party feels skillfully attuned and the result satisfies no one. The difference is that being straightforwardly rockier leavers A Million Knives open to more damaging blows. See Your Face has the dubious honour of the being the first holistic headache, a pop-rock song defined by its irascible, full-frontal clatter and nothing else. From there, they come thick and fast—the flat thumps that brick out On And On; the slop-brown drizzle of a riff that drowns some honestly good eeriness on Moonchild; the way that Heaven is presumably intended as a sexy, steamy slow-jam that gets brutally kneecapped by its own uneventful clunk.

Peppered around them are the kind of even-keeled fixings that actually manage to get somewhere with The Velveteers’ skillset (whether by accident or not). The disco lick on Bound In Leather mightn’t get that much play but it’s a nice sprinkling of flavour on one of the album’s better bouts of groove and rumble. As for Sweet Little Hearts, that might be even stronger with how effective the fuzzed-out guitar and bass growls are, even being able to distract from production that also gets tangled up in itself. Finally, if you get past the flatter guitars and piercing, unrepentant squeal, Take It From The Top is a pretty fun rock stormer, with easily the album’s catchiest hook.

Of course, you’ll also realise how each instance of praise has a caveat to keep it in check, such is the norm with The Velveteers and their extreme aversion to just making simply good music. It definitely makes A Million Knives look worse when it sports this unwieldiness, and so proudly, at that. If they weren’t, why would Demi Demitro be trying to hard to replicate the ideas in her vocals? Clearly she’s aware of the nattier edges and actively wants to emulate—or even exacerbate—them. That’s why the combination of slippery control, an untrained higher register and a thick scoop of vocal fry is the go-to, a gauntlet of old-school rock ‘n’ roll performativity that places all of its efforts on the superficial characteristics.

The disheartening thing is that there’s a bit of capability to go further in the writing, too. Not much when, at the best of times, the output is serviceable without even grazing stellar or pertinent, but there can be something. Knowing that a song like Bound In Leather is sung through a queer lens can be appreciated, as a perspective that’s seldom touched in this side of rock. Similarly, Take It From The Top’s vision of rockstar hedonism is coded in younger thoughts and emotions, and the bubbling undertones of awkwardness and discomfort at playing this part is surprisingly layered territory to explore. It’s also where Demitro’s performance is easily its most believable, in that it’s not as viciously railroaded by affect that, everywhere else, is just hard to buy.

It’s definitely keeping in line with the overall vibe set out by A Million Knives—quality on a piecemeal basis that you seriously have to work for to meet. Even when you get to it, you’ve waded through such a dour, draining endeavour that it’s hard to feel fulfilled or enthralled. Sure, The Velveteers are breaking garage-rock’s creative constraints, but in doing so, they fumble so hard and so regularly. At least it’s not as directionless as their debut felt, a bar an atom’s height off the ground but off the ground nonetheless. All that continues to say, though, is that it’s more entertaining to talk about and around The Velveteers than actually engage with them. If nothing else, your expectations for something potentially cool and intriguing won’t be quashed on sight.

For fans of: The Black Keys, HotWax, Taipei Houston

‘A Million Knives’ by The Velveteers is out now on Easy Eye Sound.

Words by Luke Nuttall