Small Reveal is the second album from British Columbian singer-songwriter Aidan Knight. The catch is that on the new album he can no longer really be considered a singer-songwriter at all as his bandcamp now describes the term “Aidan Knight” as the namesake of an experimental folk quintet. The notes on the page list eight other musicians who contributed to the album, and the presence of this backing band sees a marked departure from the gentle folk stylings of Knight’s debut, 2010’s Versicolour. This transformation is evident from the get-go, opener ‘Dream Team’, starts as a familiar gentle folk song but erupts into full blown indie rock at the five minute mark. The rest of the album straddles the line between folk and rock and also contains three instrumental tracks (Figures I, II and III). Album closer ‘Margaret Downe’ is a return to hushed folk and beautifully tells the story of an ill-fated relationship. It is an triumph of songwriting and makes me very interested to see where Knight goes from here. As a bonus check out the track played fully acoustic in a video courtesy of Vancouver Is Awesome and Amazing Factory Productions (which was brought to my attention by the ever-brilliant Slowcoustic).
The album is available for purchase over at Bandcamp and comes highly recommended.