"I had a dream all my teeth fell out. A cracked smile and a Silent Shout."The Knife. Best band around right now? (To these ears) Undoubtedly! And I am not even that big a fan of techno or electronica or what have you. But wait. Before I even start dear reader, have you noticed the the bird masks Brother Olaf and Sister Karen of the Knife wear? I didn't even know they wore bird masks until I looked for a photo for this post.
- (Flashback Synchonicity Alert!) About six months ago I am in a Virgin Records Megastore down the street from me and I notice a cd with the most amazing cover; a strange almost cartoonish black and white drawing of a girl with long hair wearing cool sunglasses and projecting some kind of magick energy sphere between her hands. The cover says "Fever Ray" and a sticker on the album says this is the solo album by Karen from The Knife. I have never heard of this Knife but I love this chick and her occult accoutrements on this cover. Sadly I balk at spending money for a cd I know nothing about and move on, I think I end up buying a Lee "Scratch" Perry album which is a whole other post but a seed has been sown and in time the Reaping of the Knife will come. A few months later I am at the Library picking up some more occult books and I browse through the cd selection and notice an album called Silent Shout by a band called The Knife. Rusty gears click and whir in this old head and a connection is made. I grab the cd and jet to the counter; stay out of my way Mousey Librarians! Don't even tell me I have a fine on my card and I can't check this cd out, God wants me to hear this album! I get home and imbibe my favorite sacrament and slip on those headphones. The Knife's Silent Shout begins with a cold but bouncy bass drum slash bass note pounding sinuously. The vocals start and what the f- is this? The vocals have been prismatically splayed into various pitches, it's like the Icy Chorus of the God's of the North blowing witchy wind all over the techno throb of the music. The ray of light of melody sent through the crystal of voice processing and voila! A vocal Rainbow! As the cd goes on I realize there is a definite minimal agenda at work here. The songs seem pared down to the absolute minimum. Now I am a songwriter and to be honest I am not really impressed with techno knob-twiddling in general or how great stuff sounds. I am a lo fi dude. This band knows how to work it though. They seem to focus on just writing really good songs and letting the bleeps and bloops serve the song. So, besides making petitions to Odin One eyed God of the Ravens or whoever they pray to how do bro and sis Karen and Olaf come up with such good stuff. I have a sister and you know bros and sis's can kill each other but also there is something deep there. Some intuitive thing. Maybe also just the fact that because they are siblings they can push each other and push each other's buttons. (Name Synchronicity Alert! Karen seems to be a popular name for girl singers isn't it? Karen Carpenter. Karen O from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's. To be honest though, you get yourself some Kate Bush especially the album the Dreaming and you will really never need to listen to Karen O from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's again. More like the Blah, Blah, Blah's!) Where was I? So something child-like and dark and very emotionally powerful. Isn't that amazing? With all the techno processing of the vocals and the music these are very emotionally virile songs.
"You try to feel it but you can't wake up- you try to touch it but you can't wake up... I do it backwards but I don't wake up..." (that's some spooky shit!)
So far I have bought the albums Silent Shout, Deep Cuts and Karen's solo album Fever Ray.
Silent Shout is definitely the masterpiece. Dark, monolithic, cthonic (and H.P. Lovecraft always uses that word and I am sure he would have loved this album) Beautiful and sharp, no fat at all..
Deep Cuts is more brightly colored and bouncy. It seems to have more of an idea of creating an androgynous sound which I think is brilliant. There is a definite dance around the room feel to this album. Very melodic and catchy. Sort of like a techno version of what Lou Reed was doing with the Velvets on songs like Candy Says ( I loooove the Velvet Underground!)
Fever Ray is strange. It's much more low energy and feminine. As if the strong bright male (Chockmah) elements of light have not yet been brought forth by YHWH, like the darkness has not yet been split into the shining edges of light that we hear in the Knife albums. This album is like the Ama aspect of Binah: in it's essence it is the force of travail in all types and levels of bringing to birth... the waters of form... a dark womb...
I am lost in the sauce now, The Knife is not an easy band to write about, but they are an easy band to love... Check them out fools! Forget whatever second-hand crap MTV is trying to sell you or whatever those overrated and wimpy Animal Collective type bands are up to. This is where songwriting is right now... I thought you knew!
- The Mystery-Saint
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