Haege's chaotic guitar work is always melodic even as it skirts the boundaries of dissonance, while Pellicci's drumming and Winebrenner's basslines hold Haege's forays in check and add a rhythmic drive that keeps everything moving forward.

Worried Well finds the group utilizing its prismatic musical resources to astonishingly varied effect. "Compass Commands" falls somewhere between Gilbert & Sullivan and "Hey Ya," while "Upping the Mandate" glides on a carriage of hand claps and Dr. Dre-worthy synth lines. When all of these elements reach true confluence, as on the spidery, arpeggio-driven "Strange Kicks" and the lovely, elegiac "Opaque/All White," 31Knots prove themselves one of the most dramatically adept power trios going.

Worried Well manages to find the perfect balance between the intricate instrumentation and swaggering theatricality that have come to define their tenure as a band. The record is constantly turning, rising and falling, starting and stopping, each song unique from its counterparts.

This disc is yet another step in the Portland band's trek away from definable sounds and into a truly unique musical space.

The whole album is woven together via a series of samples that shape the album into a complete form of art rather than a mass of songs.

31Knots crafts challenging rock music in the grand tradition of iconoclasts like Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa.