Exposé Online

Bent Knee in Seattle with Megafauna

Bent Knee entered my awareness around the time of Say So, and I’ve been a big fan ever since. The combination of wild unpredictability and impeccable musicianship really hits a sweet spot for me, and I know I’m not the only one. As intricate and elaborate as their studio albums have always been, they are also a band that puts on an outstanding live performance. With the band now settled into its four-piece configuration, I was looking forward to seeing and hearing this new phase at their 2024 Seattle show.

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-09-14

photography by Danette Davis

Barboza occupies a relatively small room downstairs from the much larger club called Neumo’s, a long basement space with a stage at one end, a bar in the middle, and a few booths toward the back. But the stage is a reasonable size, and both sound and lights are good. The show started early, and after driving around the area for some time in search of parking, we arrived well after the first band had started. They were a local punk band called Two Minute Hate, and I can’t say much about them.

Around 8:00, Megafauna took the stage. This Austin, Texas band has been around since 2008, but this was my first encounter with them. What an amazing and pleasant surprise! Their music rocks hard but is full of odd meters and unexpected chord changes. Singer and lead guitarist Dani Neff is energetic and charismatic, with her voice floating smoothly over the complexity of the arrangements. Bassist Will Krause was having fun as well, with a fan blowing back his long hair as he alternately jumped around and zenned out with eyes closed. The drummer is Zack Humphrey, and he kept things forging ahead through the tricky changes. Rhythm guitarist Winston Garrett also handled a vintage Prophet 600 synth at times to provide a bit more tonal variety.

I was completely taken by Megafauna’s style, an appealing blend of recognizable rock idioms twisted beyond their normal 4/4 structures. There’s a lot of energy, and it’s all positive — no doom and gloom here — although since I’ve only heard the songs in a live context, I can’t speak to the content of the lyrics. In any case, this is a band we’ll be covering further here at Exposé.

After the departure of Ben Levin and Jessica Kion, Bent Knee has carried on with four members — violinist Chris Baum now handles guitar much of the time, and Vince Welch, who previously handled sound design and occasional synthesizers, plays bass much of the time, occasionally switching to guitar, and still doing synth duty. Regular drummer Gavin Wallace-Ailsworth is dealing with health issues, so his brother Ben stepped in to handle the kit; he contributed bass on one track of the new album, so he’s no stranger to the band. Lead singer Courtney Swain is still on keyboards most of the time, though live she takes up the bass on a few tracks where Welch is on guitar. Often, bands who do a lot of instrument switch-offs can suffer from lulls in the energy of their performance, but that’s not the case here. They’ve got everything down smoothly, sometimes managing the hand-off while other parts of the music continue.

Long-time fans of Bent Knee certainly have nothing to worry about with the personnel changes. Those who have heard Twenty Pills without Water know that while the sound is slightly different from past albums, it’s unmistakably Bent Knee, full of the same balance of intense emotion and intellectual adventure. Unexpected changes are around every corner, and there’s a brilliant willingness to try things that other bands just wouldn’t think of.

The set list for this tour includes many old favorites, adapted only slightly for the new situation. In fact they opened with “Way Too Long” from Shiny Eyed Babies — hard to believe that’s ten years old now! One of the highlights for me was “Lawnmower” off the new album. I remember first hearing a version of it the last time the band played Seattle, which happened to be their first outing as a four-piece, though it hadn’t been planned as such. It had been intended to be their last show with the original lineup, but Levin and Kion came down with COVID just before leaving Boston, and the others had to make do. One of the songs they played that night was something new that started with the lyric “I bought a house in the country.” I remember it being the highlight of the evening, and I remarked about it to Courtney after the show. Now I know the title is “Lawnmower,” and it is indeed a great song. It started with her accompanying her singing with arpeggiated chords on the bass — she didn’t play the part on the album, but she handled it beautifully here.

I also have to give a special shout-out to Ben for stepping in on the drums. These are not simple songs where anyone could just walk in and wing it. Every single one has plentiful rhythmic oddness, with different verses having different accents, sudden shifts in meter, and unusual polyrhythms where the drums and bass are nominally in one time signature while the rest of the band is in another. Welch even remarked after one tune that the fills in the previous song had been particularly good.

On the whole, it was a magical night. I think it was my fifth time seeing Bent Knee, and they’ve yet to disappoint. That alone would be a positive experience, but when you add in the discovery of Megafauna, I was one happy music fan.

Filed under: Concerts

Related artist(s): Bent Knee, Courtney Swain, Megafauna