Album of the Week: KNOWER - KNOWER FOREVER | 2023 Week 22

We’ve been hungry for a new KNOWER album for a while now, with the ridiculously talented LA-based duo of Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi’s last album together, Life, released way back in 2016 before dropping standalone singles in 2018 and 2020.

Last year saw both artists release individual albums (with Louis Cole’s Quality Over Opinion being our Album of the Week upon release), and following two equally awesome KNOWER singles this year, I’m The President and The Abyss, the funky, jazzy, poppy, beat-driven pair are back and here to stay with fifth album, KNOWER FOREVER.

I say “funky, jazzy, poppy, beat-driven pair” as that’s about as accurate as their music can be described, refusing to be pinned down and generally just doing whatever they want - which when you’ve got the chops of these two is about all we can ask for. Rooted in jazzy, funky, alternative sounds, KNOWER draw on everything from dance music to orchestral string arrangements and modern indie pop, all with their signature synth sounds as well as Cole & Artadi’s unmistakable drums and vocals respectively.

As we’ve come to know (pun intended) and love from these two, the record features some insanely gifted collaborators and fellow mainstays of the “new weird LA” scene, including Sam Wilkes and Mononeon on bass guitar, Jacob Mann and Rai Thistlethwayte (shout out Thirsty Merc!) on keys, Sam Gendel on sax and others jumping on the record.

Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait FOREVER for their next album!

The best of the rest of this week's records:

Beach Fossils - Bunny [Bayonet Records] USA

Indie

Body Type - Expired Candy [Poison City Records] AUS

Rock / Indie

Bully - Lucky For You [Sub Pop] USA

Rock / Indie

DZ Deathrays - R.I.F.F [DZ Deathrays] AUS

Rock / Punk

Protomartyr - Formal Growth In The Desert [Domino] USA

Rock / Post-Punk

RVG - Brain Worms [Ivy League Records] AUS

Alternative / Rock

Speakers Corner Quartet - Further Out Than The Edge [OTIH Records] ENG

Experimental / Alternative

Surprise Chef - Friendship EP [Big Crown Records] AUS

Funk / Soul

Women of Soul - Feel Good [Women of Soul] AUS

Soul / r&b