A Knife Ballet’s “Scattered Red, Blue & Black” is a Menacing and Melodramatic Amalgam of German Romantic Classical Music and Cinematic Post-rock

A Knife Ballet, photo by Thomas Nightingale

There’s something of the the promise of tragedy ahead in the beginning of “Scattered Red, Blue & Black” by A Knife Ballet. A lonely guitar figure floats in space joined soon by strings and companion guitar work like images in a film conveying movement toward something menacing. Bell tones accent the rhythm and the musical elements shift in expression so that the strings are less melancholic and more anxious and urgent as the song progresses and all sounds but the barest guitar drop off and then return with great, clashing clamor. The second half of the song is an almost martial rhythm haunted by violin commenting on the dire consequences of some great melodrama to which the song seems to be a score. Musically it’s a blend of German Romantic classical and post-rock both the more tender and haunted manner of Slint and its broadly subtle dynamic range and Mogwait’s cinematic intensity. And you certainly want to see the movie that inspired the music or the one it inspires. Listen to “Scattered Red, Blue & Black” on YouTube and follow A Knife Ballet at the links below. The song was taken from the forthcoming For The Blood Of England LP.