Comparisons to electronic giants such as Sigur Ros and Radiohead do Union Of Knives no favours - it simply sets a benchmark they're not going to reach.
They can do crashing electronica, drum machine swirls and droning vocals well enough, but they've got nothing particularly new or special to add. Their biggest mistake is that I Decline is the weakest of the four tracks on offer here and considerably less interesting than its remix, which could work well as a chill-out sideline to the industrial dancefloor the main version won't quite have managed to get going.
And this is a shame, as the second track Back To School is catchier than its predecessor, creating a dark pop electronica reminiscent of the slower numbers from post-Arcadia Duran Duran. This leads on to the equally worthwhile Is Sweetheart, with gliding vocals that endearingly reach too high and end up sounding like a breathless whisper. These are good tracks, slowly getting under your skin and insidiously dragging you back after you've written the band off. It would be a shame they end up lost behind the indifferent opener.
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