Chicago singer-songwriter Daniel Knox knows how to write a heartbreaker—which in his case could actually mean a protagonist who digs into a lover’s chest cavity to pinch off an artery. The title track from his new album, Chasescene (H.P. Johnson Presents), kicks off with an uneasy sentiment: “Darling, I love you by the neck / In this hopeless broken wreck / I love you by the neck.” Which is promptly followed by an even darker declaration: “I love you in the ground / You’re naked and you can’t make a sound / I love you in the ground.” The icing on Knox’s cake of creepiness is his vocal delivery: he sounds like Tom Waits after adenoid surgery, with bursts of chesty volume and a bit of gravel left over, and his trills and flourishes recall the dramatic phrasing of Judy Garland (if she sang Johnny Hartman’s range).…
Chicago singer-songwriter Daniel Knox knows how to write a heartbreaker—which in his case could actually mean a protagonist who digs into a lover’s chest cavity to pinch off an artery. The title track from his new album, Chasescene (H.P. Johnson Presents), kicks off with an uneasy sentiment: “Darling, I love you by the neck / In this hopeless broken wreck / I love you by the neck.” Which is promptly followed by an even darker declaration: “I love you in the ground / You’re naked and you can’t make a sound / I love you in the ground.” The icing on Knox’s cake of creepiness is his vocal delivery: he sounds like Tom Waits after adenoid surgery, with bursts of chesty volume and a bit of gravel left over, and his trills and flourishes recall the dramatic phrasing of Judy Garland (if she sang Johnny Hartman’s range).…