Music Review: The Jack Knives — Negative Spaces

Negative Spaces was easily my most anticipated album of the year. Finding out the Orange County punk outfit re-teamed with producer Pete Steinkopf (Bouncing Souls) convinced me this record was custom-made for my headphones. From the opening notes, it hits like dark denim and leather jackets, making me want to cut up the rainy back roads of the Oregon Gorge while pretending it's the California coast and that Orange County air blasting me in the face. This doesn't feel manufactured for algorithms or TikTok virality, it's scrappy, DIY, and lived in.

While pre-released singles like "La Sierra" and the road-trip-ready "Late Nights in London" offer a perfect entry point for new listeners, it’s the deep cuts that define the album's true soul. The storytelling on "The Lights" trades surface-level punk tropes for genuine vulnerability, dealing with demons, guilt, and walking out terrified with your sunglasses on.

The rights were wrongedWhile the backstreets played our songHow long can you runWith those demons you carried all alongYou patch them up insideWhere all the pain and the guilty resideI bet you're terrifiedWalking out with your sunglasses on

Meanwhile, the closing anthem "Built by Us" wraps the record in a fierce, blue-collar reminder of community:

We're not aloneBuilt by our ownThis was built by UsWhile they were playing solitaireIt was old rock and roll from the streets that we knowWhen nobody caredThis was built by usWhile they were pretending to care

It is a textured, dusty-vinyl experience that belongs in a punk rock alleyway. The easy pitch is recommending it to fans of Social Distortion, Hot Water Music, or The Bouncing Souls. But the real surprise here is the brilliant, heart-on-sleeve lyricism. It holds its own against classic Americana storytellers like Bruce Springsteen or Jason Isbell, proving that punk rock can still have an absolute mountain of heart.

At the end of the day, this was a highly anticipated album for which I had set almost unattainable expectations. Yet somehow, not only did The Jack Knives meet them, they surpassed them. This is a no-skip album. Really, the only downside is the fact they can't play the full record live and still have time for all my other favorite cuts from their back catalog.