Ever since The Knife hit the scene with 'Heartbeats', the band's lead singer Karin Dreijer Andersson has been garnering more and more recognition for her emotionally raw and somewhat bizarre voice and her predilection for neo-gothic and morose themes. Now that she and her brother have temporarily disbanded, it has provided the perfect jumping-off-point for her solo project: Fever Ray. Thank fucking god.
There is something innately ominous about the atmosphere of this music. It isn't forthright in it's
sinister samplings, though, as it is still very much a humanistic approach to avant garde pop music. She fervidly sings of basic human function, the ego and waxes philosophic on such topics as transformation of energy and the forgotten ways of a childhood friendship. Throughout these seemingly harmless topics of conversation, though, the music itself blends eerie indiscernible noise and dissonant chords that end up, in moments, creating a slight, if only subconscious, element of mysterious and suspenseful terror. Above and beyond the dark atmosphere, there is an exciting amount of pageantry and theatrics imbued upon every visual interpretation of Fever Ray's music, whether it be in music video or a live performance.
This is, perhaps, showcased the most in the video for 'When I Grow Up', a dark and twisted moment of exagerrated teenage angst amidst an everyday landscape. It's like she is having a war with herself, trying to resist her childhood expectations and affectations by performing voodoo by the pool.... sounds like a thursday night in 1996 to me.
Please enjoy the album and watch the video for 'When I Grow Up'.
Fever Ray by Fever Ray