Artist: Fever Ray
Album: Fever Ray
Year: 2009
Grade: 4.5 pretzels
For me, the Knife are one of those happy musical surprises you stumble upon without warning. I distinctly remember when I first heard their music. One summer, back in 2006, my sister and I went to a record store in Seattle to buy CDs. I picked up a fresh-off-the-boat import copy of TV On The Radio’s Return To Cookie Mountain. My sister bought a strange, dark CD by a band I’d never heard of. It turned out to be the Knife’s Silent Shout. Both floored me. It was a good day for purchases.
The appeal of the Knife (at least for Silent Shout, which is different from their earlier work) lies in its darkness. The band consists of two Swedish siblings who share a love for minimalism and techno. They also have a flair for the dramatic and fantastical, often being photographed in bizarre, folksy bird masks. The music sounds like something you’d hear in the deep of night, lost in an icy Swedish forest (and you thought Sweden was just Ikea). Silent Shout was a true standout of 2006 and the Knife haven’t been able to record a follow-up yet.
Until now…sort of. Fever Ray consists of one half of the band, Karin Dreijer Andersson, working without her brother Olof. However, despite half of the Knife not being involved in the album, Fever Ray sounds like Silent Shout Pt. 2. The same mystical darkness permeates the album, creating a soundtrack for the darkest fairy tale you’ve never heard. Tracks like “If I Had A Heart” and “Keep The Streets Empty For Me” have the same minimal appeal, creating maximum atmosphere with a minimum of frills. The rhythms feel tribal and primal, despite the fact that most of them are very obviously created on keyboards and synthesizers. All this adds up to create an album that can be very oppressive, but takes you on a rich, emotional journey over the course of its ten tracks.
The strangest part of Fever Ray is undoubtedly the vocals. Andersson wrings her singing through all kinds of distortions and effects, often shifting the pitch down to create a husky, masculine-sounding track to counterpoint her high-pitched, natural vocals. It’s a confusing and dramatic effect, since the pitch-altered voice barely sounds human at times. Overall, the effect underlines the otherworldly quality inherent in the music. More than anything else, it reminds me of the performance art of Laurie Anderson, who blended industrial, tribal and rock qualities together to create fascinating performance pieces (I highly recommend her concert film, Home Of The Brave). It’s encouraging to hear Fever Ray making similar music, fifteen years down the line.
If there are any flaws here, they lie in the lyrics. Andersson seems to be a graduate from the Bjork School Of Whimsical Singing And Lyricism and lines like “we talk about love, we talk about dishwasher tablets” can distract from the overall, spooky vibe when you aren’t expecting them. However, even with some head-scratching phrases sprinkled throughout, Fever Ray is a staggering success. Andersson has picked up exactly where the Knife left off, crafting an album equal of its predecessor. Part of me hopes the Knife end their current hiatus so they can record a true follow up to Silent Shout. However, until then, Fever Ray will more than tide me over.
The appeal of the Knife (at least for Silent Shout, which is different from their earlier work) lies in its darkness. The band consists of two Swedish siblings who share a love for minimalism and techno. They also have a flair for the dramatic and fantastical, often being photographed in bizarre, folksy bird masks. The music sounds like something you’d hear in the deep of night, lost in an icy Swedish forest (and you thought Sweden was just Ikea). Silent Shout was a true standout of 2006 and the Knife haven’t been able to record a follow-up yet.
Until now…sort of. Fever Ray consists of one half of the band, Karin Dreijer Andersson, working without her brother Olof. However, despite half of the Knife not being involved in the album, Fever Ray sounds like Silent Shout Pt. 2. The same mystical darkness permeates the album, creating a soundtrack for the darkest fairy tale you’ve never heard. Tracks like “If I Had A Heart” and “Keep The Streets Empty For Me” have the same minimal appeal, creating maximum atmosphere with a minimum of frills. The rhythms feel tribal and primal, despite the fact that most of them are very obviously created on keyboards and synthesizers. All this adds up to create an album that can be very oppressive, but takes you on a rich, emotional journey over the course of its ten tracks.
The strangest part of Fever Ray is undoubtedly the vocals. Andersson wrings her singing through all kinds of distortions and effects, often shifting the pitch down to create a husky, masculine-sounding track to counterpoint her high-pitched, natural vocals. It’s a confusing and dramatic effect, since the pitch-altered voice barely sounds human at times. Overall, the effect underlines the otherworldly quality inherent in the music. More than anything else, it reminds me of the performance art of Laurie Anderson, who blended industrial, tribal and rock qualities together to create fascinating performance pieces (I highly recommend her concert film, Home Of The Brave). It’s encouraging to hear Fever Ray making similar music, fifteen years down the line.
If there are any flaws here, they lie in the lyrics. Andersson seems to be a graduate from the Bjork School Of Whimsical Singing And Lyricism and lines like “we talk about love, we talk about dishwasher tablets” can distract from the overall, spooky vibe when you aren’t expecting them. However, even with some head-scratching phrases sprinkled throughout, Fever Ray is a staggering success. Andersson has picked up exactly where the Knife left off, crafting an album equal of its predecessor. Part of me hopes the Knife end their current hiatus so they can record a true follow up to Silent Shout. However, until then, Fever Ray will more than tide me over.
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