Use Knife

The opening images appear like a petri-dish, a projection on the moon, the end of a telescope or being looked at from down the barrel of a gun. This idea that vision of a situation can be partial is hard to shake, with most of the image covered. As state-sponsored media, or channels with dubious political interests, increasingly ignore and detach themselves from reality experienced by so many: whether that’s Russia, America or Israel, there are plenty of guilty states that État Coupable might be understood to refer to, even if the official release hones in on the anglophone West.

Digitally produced images paired with electronic sounds is a tried and tested phenomenon. “All eyes on us” the lyrics call, echoing the haunting AI image that read “All eyes on Rafah” and circulated widely on social media. Visibility has its own political value, and État Coupable’s shared artistic interpretation of injustice feels significant. The lens gradually widens, as the crowd we look down on from a bird’s eye view wait on a constantly shifting surface, that includes a racing boat. Potentially these changing images present a widespread experience of displacement and terror. In the band’s portrait one of the musicians dons a keffiyeh too, which has become associated with solidarity for Palestinian people.

Youniss Ahamad, who made the video, tells us "I really wanted to work with a long zoom out on this song, where you start all the way zoomed in, unclear about where and what is happening. The more the song goes on the more gets revealed, but also the more that disappears. The endless “We’re all here, out here in the open” chants become more desperate as the camera zooms past the masses." He adds that some visual inspiration comes from Páraic McGloughlin, demonstrations, protests and Thibaut Grevet.

The Use Knife trio explain that État Coupable is an “anti-establishment punk rant”, quite modesty. “The track plays with two stark contrasts of the activist uplifting revolutionary techno vs Radwan Ghazi Moumneh's apocalyptic obliterating soundscape outro.” It really has a sense of push and pull. Sonic inspiration comes mainly from Stef's Verbos modular synthesiser and from experimenting with distortion on Saif's percussion instruments to achieve a more direct sound. Nods to Factory Floor, Front 242 and Throbbing Gristle are inevitable in this crunchy experimental territory too.

Critical yet open, Use Knife share the album explores, “the gulf between the Eastern and Western mindset”. Apparently Saif, who lived in Iraq and the Arab World, “spoke out to us and pointing out our Western privileges and biased worldviews. Too easily we can (rightfully) point out that the state is guilty, but we shouldn't forget that the Western mindset of its people is also a part of the problem.” Perhaps perpetuation through silence or distancing oneself from world issues gives the individual some responsibility.

The content of yet to be released single Kadhdhaab off the album, and its straightforward addressing of the world’s power structures, informs the meanings of État Coupable. Khadhdhaab speaks about the profound disappointment of youth as the ground crumbles beneath their feet. As children grow into young adults, they begin to see that the world is far from just, it is fractured by the forces of power and geopolitics. “We, the people, stand exposed and vulnerable in the open” add Use Knife.

The video ends with abstract looking images of a primordial bog animated by running water droplets. This surface flashes and distorts to the sound of “we’ll never give up”, the music grumbles. Calming lights then float upwards to low scratchy drones, and a soft clear buzuq for the final four minutes. Is it a representation of the peace we crave?