Pocketknife

"Feels" is a cinematic-sounding masterpiece of work. It's such an impressive mix of musical experimenting you'd think there were many more musicians contributing to it... frankly it's one of the most impressive songs I've heard this year." - Local Vertical

"Deep groove without a trace of "funk". We were reminded of perhaps "A Ghost Is Born" era Wilco but with less of an eye on pleasing the NPR set. They traded their acoustic instruments for keyboards and then traded back again. They played a cover of "Imagine". It was less ironic than anybody would care to believe. We were sold." - Cooling Pie Records

"The music climate in Brooklyn is certainly still boiling, as tonight I was introduced to Pocketknife, a trio creating cerebral pop layered with jazzy guitars that'll suit modern indie fanatics and classic Top 40 lovers all in the same chorus. ...it's only a matter of time until the rest of us are fortunate enough to see the magic for ourselves. As it typically goes, seeing is believing." - A Good Day For Airplay

''...back handed jazz mixed electro guitar folk rock that borders on crazy catchy and shakes hands with love. Colin Killalea’s vocals and songwriting stokes Pocketknife’s fire, but this young band experiments and augments each song into a beast of amazingness that culminates on their release 'We’re All Hunters Now''' - Pasta Primavera

"Vocals and sound like Jeff Buckley, with a bit of the lyrical sense and aesthetic of Modest Mouse. They've got a fantastic sense of beat, wonderful production value, and are just a damn sexy listen. Give them a shot if you love great music." - Bringer of Song

Genres are rapidly becoming obsolete. How often is it that you can describe a band’s sound without a slash or a hyphen? “Oh, Death From Above 1979? You know, they’re like hard glam/dance-punk.” Or, “Oh, Animal Collective? They’re experimental post-indie freak folk/shit.” In other words, it’s difficult to describe a lot of bands without sounding like a pretentious asshole. Many bands out there seem blissfully unaware of this development, or at least it doesn’t bother them. New York’s indie-experimental/blues-pop funk infused soft-progressive (fuck) outfit Pocketknife are one such band, and they spend most of their new EP, We’re All Hunters Now, gleefully dipping their pen in all sorts of different inks because, hey, it makes for a more colorful picture.

I can’t say they’re wrong to do it; it yields pretty damn good results. Opening track “Feels” is a bluesy slow-burner, comfortably sprinkled with piano and serenely fingerpicked guitar, dropping shamelessly, fearlessly, from andante into largo in the second verse. “The Static, The Shame” starts out a funky, sexy acid rainstorm, before melting into an experimental second half – it’s about as avant-garde as the band gets on this record. A little self-indulgent, sure, but also damn intriguing, and an admirable risk to take.

Rich vocal landscapes, carefully sculpted melodies, and relaxed, loose instrumental arrangements, and mystifying song structures characterize this rock-solid four-song offering. Sure, Pocketknife tend to get stuck in their songs for a bit too long, but what new band doesn’t? And sure, the various stylistic impulses – skin deep though they may be – bring the record dangerously close to pastiche. But for these flaws, We’re All Hunters Now boasts a maturity that is far beyond a band this early in its game. And it finds the band, aptly, scavenging the best parts of various genres and incorporating them into a still-cohesive, consistent whole. As a result, this EP is simultaneously new and familiar, and it positively reeks of shit-hot potential.

8.8 / 10.0
- Never Learned to Swim

CMJ released the band schedule for its 2009 Music Marathon & Film Festival yesterday... The festival runs from Oct. 20 - Oct. 24 and includes various venues throughout the city, and the list of featured artists would probably take all four days to read through. But skimming the selection reveals a fairly equal distribution of well-known acts like Atlas Sound and Deer Tick, anonymous locals (including krautrock-y Jeff Buckley-channelers Pocketknife), twenty-two bands who forgot to turn off caps lock when they named themselves... - Prefix Magazine

One of the last, big music festivals of the year, CMJ Music Marathon is back
for it’s 29th year. Taking place in over 75 venues all around New York City...this all goes down a week from now, October 20-24...Much like SXSW and all the other big industry music festivals, you got your
showcases where 1300 bands/artists i’ve signed up to be part of this
humongous shinding...Looking trough the entire schedule, these are the ones I would consider
highlights, their showcases I would most definitely attend:

Up and coming bands: The XX, Pocketknife, ExitMusic, The Temper Trap. - A Good Day for Airplay