Music: Young Knives - Something Awful: Existential Anxiety Wrapped in Art-Rock Precision

Young Knives, the acclaimed British art-rock trio from Leicestershire — brothers Henry and Thomas Dartnall alongside Oliver Askew — have long been one of the UK’s most inventive and unsettling forces in alternative music. Known for their razor-edged intelligence and dark humor, the band rose to prominence in the mid-2000s post-punk revival with their sharp wit and eccentric theatricality.

Across their career, Young Knives have evolved from quirky indie provocateurs to masters of psychological excavation, blending avant-garde textures, biting social commentary, and existential dread into something wholly their own. Their later work, including Barbarians and Sick Octave, pushed their sound into experimental, electronic, and philosophical territory, earning critical respect for their uncompromising approach to art and identity.

“Something Awful” distills Young Knives’ signature tension between menace and melody, transforming anxiety into architecture. The track unfolds like a fever dream — jagged guitars slicing through layered vocals and claustrophobic rhythms — creating a sonic portrait of dread that feels both deeply personal and disturbingly universal.

It’s a song about the paranoia of modern life, where every thought and gesture feels under surveillance, and every emotion risks implosion. Yet amid the unease, there’s precision and beauty — the band’s trademark juxtaposition of chaos and control.

With “Something Awful,” Young Knives reaffirm their role as one of Britain’s most daring art-rock voices — chroniclers of human discomfort turned into dark, magnetic music.

Band Page: https://www.instagram.com/youngknives/