Silent Shout is my first exposure to The Knife, Swedish siblings Olaf and Karin Dreijer. Apparently they won multiple Grammys for their last album, Deep Cuts. I haven't heard that one, nor do I really care about Grammys, regardless I put Silent Shout on with some expectation while at the same time not knowing what to expect. Something like "I'm told its good but what does Swedish electro-pop sound like?" Well I've heard it now. It's alien but not from too far away, a neighboring star perhaps, one that is fairly familiar with pop tunes on Earth. It is alien, somewhere in the depths of space. Parts were recorded in an old carbon dioxide factory, parts in the vaults beneath the Grand Church in Stockholm. You can't necessarily identify these locales like you can on say TV on the Radio's cover of "Mr. Grieves," which was recorded in a public restroom and sounds like it, but the effect on the recording is in its atmosphere of sinister isolation. Even when both Olaf and Karin sing together on a track (Karin does most of the singing), you have the effect of two strangers with a great distance between them, looking up at the same stars. The vocals themselves are clean but mangled. Karin's voice gets a makeover between tracks, each performance having its own distinct edge. Karin mostly shouts rather than sings on "We Share Our Mother's Health," an energetic track, that bounces and careens around inside your head with epic style, and her voice is pretty crisp here. But on the slower, moodier "Forest Families" she is muffled some, and on "Still Light" both her and Olaf's voices are pulled and stretched out. The differences aren't crazy, it doesn't sound like a new robot singing each new song. Rather, the voices are manipulated to better fit the mood of each track, while maintaining familiarity. Its more like the same robot is being slightly reprogrammed to a different mode of expression between each track. Its a good thing, really. The vocal performances are undoubtedly the most striking feature of their sound. What's more, the siblings Dreijer can write songs well. Take this verse from "Forest Families": I saw her by the organ
She was laughing while pressing the keys
She said my favorite book was dirty
And "you should not show you can read"
Every one of the songs, like this one, has me perplexed (in a good way) and seeking the meaning, poring over the lyrics and liner notes. Its refreshing to see that in electronic music from someone other than Bjork.
"Refreshing" is the word that should be printed on stickers and plastered all over the plastic wrapping of each copy of Silent Shout, it brings new life to synthesizers and to the idea of electronic music. Prior to this I always assumed that in order to make anything worth listening to (rather than dancing to) an electronic artist would have to compromise and dip into the resources of another style. The Knife didn't have to compromise and they accomplished something altogether new and beautiful.
Peter Arnberg is a contributing editor for iHighMusic.com and a fine-looking man as well. When not listening, writing, or posting he enjoys laughing out loud. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with three plants named Tuco, Blondie, and Angel Eyes.
Track Listing 1. Silent Shout
2. Neverland
3. The Captain
4. We Share Our Mother's Health
5. Na Na Na
6. Marble House
7. Like a Pen
8. From Off to On
9. Forest Families
10. One Hit
11. Still Light
| Further Listening The Knife (2001)
Deep Cuts (2003)**
Gender Bender EP (2004)
When I Found the Knife [DVD] (2005)
**=Recommended
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