Knives Don't Have Your Back is the debut studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Canadian singer-songwriter Emily Haines

Emily Haines

Emily Haines is a Canadian indie rock singer-songwriter. She is the lead singer and keyboardist of the band Metric and a member of Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she performed with her own name and under the alias Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton...

 (and the Soft Skeleton). The album was released in September 2006 on Last Gang Records

Last Gang Records

Last Gang Records is a record label that was formed by Canadian music industry lawyer Chris Taylor and concert promoter Donald Tarlton in the Fall of 2003 at the Pop Montreal Music Festival....

. It debuted at 28 in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and has sold 20,000 copies there. She has stated that Metric

Metric (band)

Metric is a Canadian indie rock and New Wave band founded in 1998 in Toronto. The band has also at various times been based in Montreal, London, New York City and Los Angeles...

 is still her first priority.

The album is a collection of piano-driven songs backed with soft strings and horns and is said to feature guest spots by Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band led by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous.-History:Sparklehorse's first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot featuring Bob Rupe of the Silos and Cracker, was a modest college radio success...

's Scott Minor, members of Stars, Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of its members currently play in various other groups and solo projects, mainly based around the city of Toronto...

 and Metric

Metric (band)

Metric is a Canadian indie rock and New Wave band founded in 1998 in Toronto. The band has also at various times been based in Montreal, London, New York City and Los Angeles...

.

She is quoted as saying the following: "When I was a little kid…I would creep downstairs to the piano and write rudimentary songs about imaginary places. I'm told the first song I ever wrote was a love song to a cranberry tree. I always used the mute pedal. I hated the idea of anybody hearing me. Everywhere I've lived while working with Metric, I've written songs on the piano and played them for no one. On the advice of a friend, I decided I'd better start recording them before they were forgotten. Four meandering years later I ended up with this collection of songs featuring a few of my favorite people, a group I call The Soft Skeleton."

The album's art is based on that of Escalator over the Hill

Escalator over the Hill

Escalator over the Hill is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction" with "words by Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Michael Mantler", performed by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra.-History:Escalator over the Hill...

, Haines' late father Paul Haines

Paul Haines (poet)

Paul Haines was a poet and jazz lyricist. Born in Vassar, Michigan, Haines eventually settled in Canada, after spending time in Europe, India, New York City, as well as a long stint as a French Teacher at Fenelon Falls Secondary School, in Ontario, Canada.Haines's best-known work is Escalator over...

' album with Carla Bley

Carla Bley

Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...

.

The song "Doctor Blind" was rated #457 on 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...

's Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s.

Track listing

1. "Our Hell" – 4:09
2. "Doctor Blind" – 3:57
3. "Crowd Surf Off a Cliff" – 5:56
4. "Detective Daughter" – 5:10
5. "The Lottery" – 3:45
6. "The Maid Needs a Maid" – 3:21
7. "Mostly Waving" – 3:12
8. "Reading in Bed" – 2:49
9. "Nothing & Nowhere" – 3:24
10. "The Last Page" – 4:49
11. "Winning" – 5:08