Too heavy for dream pop, too immediate for shoegaze – What do you call the slew of guitar bands making gauzy, slow-crawling music these days? A 2023 SXSW set with Teethe at Rio Mart led me astray – Knifeplay is not from Austin, but Philadelphia is the next logical place for TJ Strohmer and company to originate. The quintet debuted with Pearlty in 2019, the same year fellow jawns TAGABOW dropped Destiny XL. Both records signaled the shape of post-pandemic alternative to come: Quiet, twangy intros build to headbanging distortion, electronically modified samples break up six-string sonics. As Strohmer’s co-vocalist Johanna Baumann sang on opening track “Tears”: “Everything’s gonna be different now.” – Carys Anderson
