Album Review: Knox Hamilton Takes You “The Heights” of Your Soul
Knox Hamilton has been currently touring with Colony House, and with good reason. Both indie rock-pop bands share a similar initiative to make listeners feel “up”. Releasing their new album The Heights Knox Hamilton have placed themselves amongst the bands we love because they make life feel like it’s worth loving.
The Heights is filled with up-tempo melodies and guitar arrangements that sounds like sunrays being plucked from the sun itself. Throughout the album its higher tone and gently pumped instrumentals/ synths reach out to listeners to give them an awakened feeling. You may ask what “gently pumped” instrumentals mean, but if you’ve read my previous reviews some songs are all about pumping you up to a point of physical exhilaration that probably leaves you needing a nap. Yet, you cannot say that you were “spiritually uplifted” by this music compared to Knox Hamilton’s record that is all about lifting your soul. Yet, Knox Hamilton makes music that makes you want to feel high but also serene. Songs like “We Get Back”, “Never My Love”, and “The Heights” are perfect examples of Knox Hamilton’s ability to veil poetry over a “gently pumped” guitar and drum and a catchy hook that surfs into your minds. Now you may think no one wants to veil their poetry but the great thing about this move is that when you listen to the same song on repeat, you further discover its meaning through each listen. For instance “How’s Your Mind” and “Washed Up Together” are all about letting go of over-thoughts in your life and relationships to just give in to the happiness that could be right before you in this moment. Yet its melody is so rich that it inadvertently causes the effect it’s speaking upon. I blame Boots Copeland’s vocals for having the ability to hypnotize listeners so much so that Knox Hamilton’s lyricism becomes a surprisingly good aftershock rather than an initial hit.
Copeland’s vocals the cast haze over your mind. A slice of folk-rock, a slice of pop, and spiced annotations help his vocals come off like warm soup for those that never knew they were cold. The point of Knox Hamilton’s music, at least in The Heights, is that so often we do not realize how numb we have grown to our own needs and wants that we do the same for others. For Knox Hamilton you can’t love anyone at least not as healthily and beautifully as you desire if you keep on backing yourself into sad, stressed corners. This sounds absolutely logical but honestly who hasn’t lashed out when they are scared or angry. In tracks such as “Pretty Way To Fight” and “Barely Missed You”, Knox Hamilton play for the vulnerability of those moments when your guard can’t even be up if you wanted it to be, and you have to decide whether you are going to be brave and stand in this unwanted openness or cower and try to dredge up some type of wall even with the little dirt on the ground. I love music that makes me feel good about life but I also love music that makes me think upon it. Knox Hamilton’s The Heights brings both to the forefront. Click Here To Buy The Record.
