31 Knots Worried Well

• Words: Sam Mickens
• Label: Polyvinyl
• XLR8R Rating: /10

Portland trio 31 Knots’ musical focus has grown in recent years to encompass wide swaths of modern R&B, Broadway swagger, and electronic experimentalism, which supplements their bedrock of severe, intricate art-rock. Worried Well finds the group utilizing its prismatic musical resources to astonishingly varied effect. “Compass Commands” falls somewhere between Gilbert & Sullivan and “Hey Ya,” while “Upping the Mandate” glides on a carriage of hand claps and Dr. Dre-worthy synth lines. When all of these elements reach true confluence, as on the spidery, arpeggio-driven “Strange Kicks” and the lovely, elegiac “Opaque/All White,” 31 Knots prove themselves one of the most dramatically adept power trios going.