Use Knife
Use Knife is the result of the raw synergy between Iraqi vocalist and percussionist Saif Al-Qaissy—who fled war-torn Iraq—and Belgian musicians Kwinten Mordijck and Stef Heeren, known for their passion for analog synths & organic wind instrumentation.About
Use Knife is Saif Al-Qaissy, Stef Heeren and Kwinten Mordijck in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Youniss Ahamad. Their residency at art centre VIERNULVIER during Covid-19 sparked the enthusiasm to bring their Belgian and Iraqi musical backgrounds together. Youniss Ahamad is responsible for the scenography and visual component. Use Knife’s debut album 'The Shedding of Skin' was released in September 2022 by VIERNULVIER records. The title refers to the human instinct to survive and to leave war and disaster behind and build a new life in a completely different environment. The album was mixed by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in my Heart) at Hotel2Tango (Godspeed You Black Emperor, Vic Chesnutt, Arcade Fire). Radwan also plays buzuq and synthesizer on the track ‘To feed the Gentry’. For Use Knife’s liveshow Youniss Ahamad projects shifting and reassembling abstract images and text on three separate gauze cloths, with the musicians, who are behind these cloths, always present either as moving shadows or faraway aspects. “There is nothing half-hearted about Use Knife as a live act. You get the distinct feeling that each member is totally energised by this iteration of their collective art. A Belgian article dubbed their sound “electronic outsider music,” yet for me it is an all-embracing vortex that allows those experiencing it a chance to plunge, headfirst, into a hypnotic state that veers between a dreamlike trance and a sensual workout.” said The Quietus. In 2022 and 2023 they played at Le Guess Who?, Sonic City, Videodroom, Grauzone, Worm, Wrong Fest, among others. 2024 will bring Roadburn and Peel Slowly and See Festivals.
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Their music revolves around forced migration and displacement and the belief in life; it tells of the yearning for peace and a new beginning through the transformation of the old. Saif Al-Qaissy, Stef Heeren, and Kwinten Mordijck borrowed the name of their trio from a song by Current 93: “The stars spell grammar or use knife.” The project is a genuine fusion of Arabic and Western styles and mindsets. Straight techno beats are broken apart by complicated polyrhythms, looped samples of doholas, kishbas, and other Arabic percussion instruments. Use Knife will perform their new album État Coupable at donaufestival.