Lots of bands are described as “unknown”. It's a decent
descriptor - many bands are heretofore completely unknown outside of the
artists who recorded them and a few friends and collectors. Well, this band
from Baltimore is literally unknown - as in The Unknown.
Their records are more or less un-google-able since
they’re by a band called The Unknown, and their debut album is self-titled.
Even their German namesakes are much easier to find online! This post is their
debut, and their excellent follow-up album together in one place (might make it
easier to locate them in the future), (might not). The first time I listened to
The Unknown in its entirety I was wholly impressed. Tracks on the album sound
similar to For Against, Unforgettable Fire-era U2, Sport of Kings, Grapes of
Wrath, and other similar melancholy guitar-based post punk bands. Even the
weaker songs are only weak relative to the strength of the others and it was
initially hard to choose a favourite song. The record starts off with Eternity,
a surf-post-punk sound reminiscent of Abecedarians; The Clock, with its
dissonant guitar screeches is certainly impressive, and when the band explodes
during the chorus I can imaging it must have been excellent to see live. But
the closing track, Songinsee, somehow manages to span 6 minutes and still feel
too brief and it's the one that I found myself listening to on repeat. With
several layers of shimmering guitars and lyrics about longing and loneliness,
it's pretty much a perfect solemn pop song. I'm uncertain how it escaped the
ears of record company execs to propel the band to stardom. It was 1987, so
perhaps they thought The Unknown's sound was dated; it's certainly not as hip
as mountains of teased hair, spandex, and novelty songs about cherry pie and
girls, girls, girls who're smoking in the boy's room. But hopefully this post
will give the album as a whole, a tiny bit of the recognition it sorely
deserves.
While 1990 was an otherwise dark and barren period for
this sort of sound (and perhaps that’s exactly why these two LPs couldn’t find
a bigger audience), their sophomore record holds up as a worthy successor to
the first. The general vibe is the same, though the band plays slightly heavier
on this record, perhaps a reflection on the indie/alternative scene that was
just starting to break at the time.
There’s nothing on this album that’s as perfect as “Songinsee” but it’s
still a good listen from front to back.