Martin Hannett was the producer on their second album To Each. ACR thought he made them sound too much like Joy Division. And in truth, their earliest incarnation did share a lot of common ground. By their third album Sextet released in January 1982, they'd started to produce themselves. It would appear to have been a very conscious change to bring in the distinctively off key vocals of Martha Tilson as lead singer. Accompanied by the spooky echo of a delay on the backing vocal. After 'Flight' in 1980, the track Knife Slits Water in 1982 proved to be a second career high point.
The album version of Knife Slits Water, comes in at 7.50 in length. What you notice about this version is the quality of Tilson's flat toned, expressionless voice, intoning and aloof, almost to the point of being alienated from the music. As the background vocal and water reverberate ominously, all escaping down the plughole of the entire universe. The music has moved away from heavy industrialised soundscapes but remains stylistically miles away from a normal funk blow out. The entire album exists in a very percussive led, jangling sonic world of chimes, rattles and susurrations, all its own. ACR themselves believe, quite rightly, that Sextet is one of their very best releases.
Knife Slits Water, for the single version released in September 1982 they chose to release a different mix - slightly slow down the speed and return to a male, albeit androgynous, vocalist. Its interesting how these change how you respond to it. Lets just say its more ear friendly. There is a shaft of unease in there still. It obviously doesn't have Tilson's mentally on the edge of breakdown feel. It does, however, benefit greatly from being more compact. Coming in at roughly half its album running time at 3.57. Its extremely classy and neat.
'Who sold that knife to me, Life, Fingers, They cut them off, Bring it home to me, dear, it glistens, dear' '
"The good boy receives tonight's gift'
Though there are funky guitar breaks, this is not your usual dance floor filler. At this stage in their career they are stretching their latin infused funk envelope as far as it could go. Into darkly disconcerting territory. as if this piece of music were taking place in a drug induced hallucination. Before Cabaret Voltaire turned to mixing dance floor and politics, ACR were using latin/funk in distinctly edgy ways.
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