Georgia Knight releases haunting debut EP, ‘Hell on Bent Street’
Subscribe
X

Subscribe to Forte Magazine

07.03.2023

Georgia Knight releases haunting debut EP, ‘Hell on Bent Street’

Words by Maxwell Bennett

Georgia Knight is creating beautiful, moody melodies that will stick to your soul.

Following an appearance at Dark Mofo last year and guest contribution on Hugo Race’s latest album, Melbourne musician Georgia Knight released her debut EP Hell on Bent Street in February 2023, and it is a show-stopper.

Citing influences from Sandy Denny to Dirty Three, Hell on Bent Street is a dark, almost-ethereal musical experience, guided by a strong, reverberating guitar and ghostly vocals that invite the listener to melt completely into them.

Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.

Leading in with the single ‘Visualiser,’ the EP sets its tone immediately, the grungy tune winding into a kind of wailing melody— a siren’s song or lamentation— that echoes in one’s head long after the track ends. And following this, as if to pace you, comes ‘Catching Madness,’ a slower song, and the perfect follow-up to gently shepherd the listener onward, to drag them in with no hope of hitting pause.

The second single of the EP, the titular ‘Hell on Bent Street,’ is, of course, also a stand-out, a take on the classic rebellious Indie rock sound that brings the EP to a fantastic crescendo.

“Any music that makes people cringe or feel embarrassed I really like, and that was pretty much the spirit of writing ‘Hell on Bent Street’,” says Georgia. “I wanted to grab onto the stomach flip excitement of not giving a shit and escaping in this tune, one for people who like to thrash their headphones.”

“The video [for ‘Hell on Bent Street’] was filmed in my apartment one night,” she adds. “Me and Tori from Wild Rose Media were talking about the song as a shot to the heart of inertia and wanting to titillate you a bit as the character tries to get you to climb back through into the house. There’s a few easter eggs in there too.”

In order to capture its unique, somewhat urgent atmosphere, the EP was recorded live during a short run of recordings, letting the arrangements come together freely in the studio. This avant-garde can be heard in the music, both in its sense of spontaneity and the organic interaction between its various components.

It’s also noticeable in the final tracks of the EP, which are all second renditions of previous songs (‘Visualiser,’ ‘Hell on Bent Street,’ and ‘We Float,’) recorded from live performances at 3CR.

Though they are certainly the same pieces at their core, the two approaches are so different there is no sense of redundancy; the live tracks are a fresh, reinvented reprise that delicately complements their counterparts and leaves the EP on a note that might make you just want to start it all over again.

It deserves the second listen. Or third. Or fourth.

Georgia Knight’s Hell on Bent Street EP is available for purchase now on Bandcamp, both in digital format and as a limited edition cassette.