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Pearlty (2024 Remaster)

by Knifeplay

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    1st pressing orange vinyl, with gatefold jacket, obi strip, and fully printed sleeve! ~ /250

    First 100 orders get an exclusive photo print.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pearlty (2024 Remaster) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    1st pressing purple vinyl, with gatefold jacket, obi strip, and fully printed sleeve! ~ /250


    First 100 orders get an exclusive photo print.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pearlty (2024 Remaster) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    7 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    1st pressing 180g black vinyl, with gatefold jacket, obi strip, and fully printed sleeve! ~ / 250


    First 100 orders get an exclusive photo print.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pearlty (2024 Remaster) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    2 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Orange cassette shell w/ multi-panel j-card and obi strip.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pearlty (2024 Remaster) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in digipak w/ lyrics insert.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pearlty (2024 Remaster) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

1.
Tears 04:02
break up the pill united in illness we can be still cause everything's gonna be different now I will carry your tears around and drink until I'm pure anything to calm me down when the curses are the cures touching our blood I forgot who I was then death made us numb but everything's gonna be different now
2.
Suffer 04:29
waking up alone in a coughing fit pulling on the flesh that you let slip away into the past ten years away into a life that you still fear you just suffer you just suffer here wanna know why I try to hide? because everything that's good makes me scared to be alive its ok to become what you hate you just suffer if you think it matters anyway hair gets grey while a tv drones the basement is the teenage needle home to all the things you never did to all your work but what’s to show for it?
3.
Feel U 03:37
you could not have known what to do but to go to that quiet place where you know no one can hear you and watch smoke float in the air and learn to love what disappears you made my bed and you took the gift I left I feel you right here but I’ll never see you again
4.
Lover 04:29
honey and I are in love he taught me to play through the pain we met when we were growing up and making mistakes he smiles so nice he gets drunk at night honey comes home his fist is closed he does whatever he likes the more you chase me the more I'm gonna run and when you hit me I'll just do what you've done you feel power playing this game but you're just people were always the same no one can save him he’s so sweet when he lies he says “deaths the cure for emptiness, and nothing is the light”
5.
Mirage 01:37
6.
Specula 04:14 video
pain always rushes back like a child to mother’s arms like the urge to go to sleep like a spoiled begging dog I walk the same way at the same time everyday and I light a cigarette to keep me safe I think of you with hoop earrings and beautiful braids and I run towards something I can flee from I walk the same way at the same time everyday and I watch die what gave me life the specula that holds my eyes and its slowly closing all the time misery drones on inside endless like a baby’s cry
7.
Held My Hand 04:00
it’s such a still night tonight I can kinda see your picture where the blinds let in the streetlight no one makes a sound but an echo in my head is ringing constant and loud in that house, in that house you held my hand when I allowed I held you down I was so proud but I’m not now it’s such a still night tonight I have gently pushed away everyone that gave me life
8.
Angel 02:23
take him out back put him down slow momma does the rosary little brother digs the hole papa is a preacher he won't hold a gun so the family called me over I guess I was the closest one zip ties on his wrists and ankles whiskey on his breath finally he'll bleed the anger and sadness that he's kept he was already dyin from things you can’t outrun so the family called me over to kill their wasted son
9.
Lemonhead 05:53
do you remember? we were driving in the car again biting on the Lemonheads I was listening to what you said I said “so much for my mother” you said “I could be your daughter” I said “do you have something that I can swallow?” “take my soul but just to borrow” it’s a ritual that bleeds us both just like that again we’re cold and you wrote a song again I made it about me again you were talking about staring you were talking about static I said “I don’t know why I bother” you said “you don’t even bother” I said am I “you”? I must get off on spilling blood and am I “you”? just let the laughter break it up it’s a ritual that bleeds us both just like that again we're cold
10.
Bouquet 02:29

about

Over atmospheric instrumentation expanded by cinematic structure and pacing, Pearlty presents Knifeplay somewhere between dream-pop influenced shoegaze and lofty slowcore, never fully committing to one or the other in its insistence on creating an immersive, organic world.

Originally released in 2019, Knifeplay’s vivid debut Pearlty documents songwriter Tj Strohmer’s expressions of early adulthood in what he describes as “the journey from innocence to experience.”

Written during a time of immense inspiration, Strohmer was able to peel himself away from detached nihilism, uncovering the physicality and therapeutic powers of songwriting. Newly emboldened by this discovery and the talented community surrounding him, Strohmer channeled this revelation into his work, taking Knifeplay from a bedroom experiment that merely wrote songs to a more substantial project with a purpose.

Pearlty’s various climactic passages, like those heard on the impressionist album opener “Tears”, envelop listeners in textured walls of distorted guitar and noisy breakdowns, a distinct hallmark of shoegaze – but Knifeplay’s compositions go far beyond such conventions.

Also featured are downtempo compositions – such as the tribute track “Angel” – that call on a range of influences, from grunge to lofi pop, all the way back to slowcore. Layers of Strohmer’s falsetto lilt adorn the songs with another dimension of sentimentality, while rounding out the sonic vastness of the group’s emotionally enrapturing style, lending impressive depth to the band’s debut full-length.

credits

released March 13, 2024

all songs written by Tj Strohmer

produced and recorded by Cameron Konner and Tj Strohmer

Patrick McBride - lead guitar on Tears, Suffer, Specula, Held My Hand, and Lemonhead
Alex Stackhouse - bass on Tears, Suffer, Lover, Specula, and Held My Hand
Alex Ha - drums on all except Mirage
Chris Norcross - keyboard on Tears
Tommy Fala - keyboard/piano on Angel and Lemonhead
Harmony Tividad - guitar on Bouquet
Cameron Konner - auxiliary percussion, and a few other things

mastered by Fred Kevorkian

cover art by Tj Strohmer

license

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about

Knifeplay Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

linktr.ee/knifeplay_music

Booking: max@anniversarygroup.com

All other inquiry: knifeplaymgmt@gmail.com

Active Members:
Tj Strohmer
Alex Stackhouse
Max Black
Johnny Klein
Johanna Baumann
Joey Ginaldi
... more

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