Knifeplay are preparing to deliver something monumental. In January, Philadelphia’s slow-crushers—named a Band To Watch in 2022—will release What Is Truth?, a fresh LP nearing the 80-minute mark. The album’s sprawling, swooning 10-minute lead single “Love Song” was among our top picks for the week. Today, we’re treated to another preview.
What Is Truth? opens with a track called “Toil,” but the piece the band has shared today isn’t that opener in its main form. Instead, they present “Toil (Reprise),” a later excursion on the record that revisits the opener. The reprise itself swells, transitioning from gauzy drone-riffs into a thunderous blackgaze passage spanning six minutes.
The song arrives with a stark, unsettling video directed by frontman Tj Strohmer. I watched only a few seconds before letting it run in another tab, as I’m not sure I need this in my life. Your mileage may vary. Supposedly, it’s Strohmer’s homage to Begotten, the silent, experimental 1989 horror film. Some friends of mine saw that film in high school and wouldn’t stop talking about it for years. Here’s what Strohmer has to say:
This video is a remake or retelling of Elias Merhige’s 1989 silent horror film Begotten, which, in my interpretation, tells the story of the cycle of suffering that has befallen humanity via the metaphorical (or literal?) death of God and subsequent torture and death of “Mother Earth.” While I am probably not a Christian, I do not see this story as a blasphemous one; I see it as having empathy for a god, a planet, and a people who, like Mother Earth’s forlorn child, have found themselves helpless, injured, and confused.
Given that the song is primarily instrumental and lyrically simple, it felt like the perfect canvas to tell this story, whose themes are relevant across the whole album. The original film is shocking and uncompromising in its storytelling, which are traits I have always wanted to bring into my own artistry. Despite being an extreme amateur when it comes to video work, with a scarcity of time, resources, and courage, I attempted to tell the story in a slightly milder way that would work for a music video.
Check it out below.
What Is Truth? is scheduled for release on 1/22 via Double Double Whammy.
