Flight of the Knife
Encyclopedia
Flight of the Knife is the second album from the Brooklyn
area indie rock
artist Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears
. It is the group's first album as a full band, as the previous album The Shredding Tears
had been a solo effort primarily composed by Bryan Scary
. It was released on Black and Greene Records
in April 2008.
centering around the character of Airship Valentine and his mission to pilot The Knife, an airship referred to as "the greatest flying machine ever to take the skies." The album is also heavily influenced by Thomas Pynchon's
2005 novel, Against the Day
.
Flight of the Knife received generally favorable reviews, many noting the album's varied musical influences. Pitchfork Media
stated that Flight of the Knife "sucks in all kinds of 1970s -- the canonic glitter-rock of Sparks and Queen, the MOR pop of Wings and ELO, and the fleet-fingered prog of Yes and early Genesis -- but its crafty construction betrays a staunch determination to make a whole decade of once-guilty pleasures feel innocent all over again."
Allmusic notes the album's improvement from its predecessor
, adding "whereas Scary's songs on the debut sometimes sounded like they were overtly indebted to those influences and predecessors, the far more cohesive Flight of the Knife is more like a patchwork quilt where some of the fabric scraps are immediately identifiable -- check the Beach Boys-go-Devo pastiche in the second half of 'The Purple Rocket'! -- but they're arranged in a harmonious and unique whole."
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
area indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
artist Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears
Bryan Scary
Bryan Scary is a pop musician currently based out of Brooklyn, New York. His debut album, The Shredding Tears, was released by Black and Greene Records on October 31, 2006. Scary played all instruments on the album save for the drums, which were played by Jeremy Black of Apollo Sunshine...
. It is the group's first album as a full band, as the previous album The Shredding Tears
The Shredding Tears
The Shredding Tears is the debut album from the Brooklyn area indie rock artist Bryan Scary. It was released on Black and Greene Records in October 2006.-Track listing:#"A Stab At the Sun" – 4:47#"The Lessons I Learned" – 3:51#"Operaland" – 4:40...
had been a solo effort primarily composed by Bryan Scary
Bryan Scary
Bryan Scary is a pop musician currently based out of Brooklyn, New York. His debut album, The Shredding Tears, was released by Black and Greene Records on October 31, 2006. Scary played all instruments on the album save for the drums, which were played by Jeremy Black of Apollo Sunshine...
. It was released on Black and Greene Records
Black and Greene Records
Black and Greene Records is an independent record label that was founded in 2004 by David Greene and Jeremy Black . Black & Greene Records is located, run and operated out of Los Angeles, California and San Francisco. The label works exclusively with Coyote Hearing Studios co-run by Jeremy Black...
in April 2008.
Musical and lyrical themes
Flight of the Knife is a concept albumConcept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
centering around the character of Airship Valentine and his mission to pilot The Knife, an airship referred to as "the greatest flying machine ever to take the skies." The album is also heavily influenced by Thomas Pynchon's
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...
2005 novel, Against the Day
Against the Day
Against the Day is a novel by Thomas Pynchon. The narrative takes place between the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the time immediately following World War I and features more than a hundred characters spread across the United States, Europe, Mexico, Central Asia, and "one or two places not strictly...
.
Reception
Named an "Editors Pick" on iTunes, it was ranked the #6 rock album on iTunes and in the top 30 albums overall.Flight of the Knife received generally favorable reviews, many noting the album's varied musical influences. Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
stated that Flight of the Knife "sucks in all kinds of 1970s -- the canonic glitter-rock of Sparks and Queen, the MOR pop of Wings and ELO, and the fleet-fingered prog of Yes and early Genesis -- but its crafty construction betrays a staunch determination to make a whole decade of once-guilty pleasures feel innocent all over again."
Allmusic notes the album's improvement from its predecessor
The Shredding Tears
The Shredding Tears is the debut album from the Brooklyn area indie rock artist Bryan Scary. It was released on Black and Greene Records in October 2006.-Track listing:#"A Stab At the Sun" – 4:47#"The Lessons I Learned" – 3:51#"Operaland" – 4:40...
, adding "whereas Scary's songs on the debut sometimes sounded like they were overtly indebted to those influences and predecessors, the far more cohesive Flight of the Knife is more like a patchwork quilt where some of the fabric scraps are immediately identifiable -- check the Beach Boys-go-Devo pastiche in the second half of 'The Purple Rocket'! -- but they're arranged in a harmonious and unique whole."
Track listing
- "Flight of the Knife (Pt I) - 5:38
- "Venus Ambassador" - 4:21
- "Imitation of the Sky" - 4:03
- "La Madame on the Moon" - 2:43
- "The Fire-Tree Bird" - 3:57
- "The Curious Disappearance of the Sky-Ship Thunder-Man" - 4:49
- "The Purple Rocket" - 4:15
- "The Zero Light" - 5:17
- "Mama Waits" - 2:45
- "Son of Stab" - 3:35
- "Heaven on a Bird" - 4:48
- "Flight of the Knife (Pt II)" - 3:35