by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Cleveland’s off-balanced punk duo Knowso have released two albums in the past year, both their full length debut, Specialtronics Green Vision and more recently, their sophomore album, Rare Auld Trip / Psychological Garden, out now via Drunken Sailor Records. While they may have moved from one release to the next, it seems they aren’t quite done with the former album, sharing a new video for their song “Chosen One,” taken from their 2020 debut. The band’s sound takes an obvious nod to Devo but then runs in various directions within that framework. Their influences comb through post-punk with a darker edge and a rattled intensity that feels both dizzying and well earned. It’s jerky and claustrophobic, like the best elements of an old wooden roller coaster.
“Chosen One” is a simple song that darts and sputters with stubbed notes and down stroked progressions. It’s built on the band’s ever colorful structures and elastic rhythms, the entire band feeling like it could bend in any direction or just snap into a thousand pieces at any moment. It’s that combustible energy that drives “Chosen One,” with spiky riffs and sarcastically punchy lyrics delivered in “honor” of the prodigal son aka the chosen one. The video, which is somewhat a performance clip, captures Knowso in face paint playing among tropical locations and in front of a giant eyeball. It’s fun, just got with it.