Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to go retro with a striking piece that will tell you a story of fairly recent history with another entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on One Track At A Time, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Ever an elusive and dynamic duo, cult Swedish electronic music duo The Knife (Comprised of siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer) were never afraid to, somewhat uninentionally, capture the attention of the mainstream with their dark-leaning blend of Dubstep, EDM, Art-Pop and Psychedelia, also including some slower and darker strains of Hip-Hop and R&B, throughout the years to create music that, although Pop, was more far-reaching and progressive. First gaining an international following through their 2003 album ‘Deep Cuts’, the duo managed their own record company – Rabid Records – throughout their years of activity between 1999 and 2014. They were known for donning their Venetian masks to hide their faces in many public appearances, and they have won a number of Swedish Grammis awards despite refusing to attend the ceremonies. Although the duo decided to call it a day and disband in 2014, Karin started her own solo project Fever Ray in 2009, while Olof performs as a DJ under the monikers of DJ Coolof and Oni Ayhun. Last year, The Knife celebrated their 20th anniversary by announcing a range of re-issues on Vinyl and concert streams including BTS footage of their various album’s development. ‘Silent Shout’ – their third LP and arguably most well-received release – was among the works being featured. Let’s remember the title single below.
‘Silent Shout’ spawned four singles and the music video for the title track, along with some of the promo photos doing the rounds of the album’s press campaign, were equally inspired by the works of German-American animator Oskar Fischinger and the ‘Black Hole’ series of comic books created by the American cartoonist Charles Burns. This was also a highly influential release – with fellow artists like Lykke Li, Niki and The Dove, Tove Lo and Denmark’s MØ picking up on The Knife’s Dubstep-influenced blend of Dark Electronica and subversive Dance music rather noticeably in the years following its release in 2006. ‘Silent Shout’ – the title track – is an amalgamation of the record’s club-driven musicality and rewarding lyricism, as the deep House-leaning anthem starts off with a drawing set of Synths that evoke a Sci-Fi aesthetic as they waver along to a chilling, unearthly electronic backdrop of multi-tracked Keys and brooding Drums. A barely audible vocal comes in shortly, which also evokes a ghostly – not to mention a slightly haunting – atmosphere at times as the processed vocals are crashed through the ringer of digital manipulation. The severe distortions of Karin’s lyrics create a daring and jarring presence that pulsates from the mid-tempo opening to the early 90’s Techno and Trance qualities of the slowly bubbling outroduction, telling a narrative of a life gone awry that feels tense and high-octane while suiting the template of unpredictable Pop that shapes the rest of the full-length album. The lyrics give the tempo a slightly melodic uplift with their robotic feel, but the rich electronic backdrop incorporates a wide-ranging series of Lo-Fi Hip Hop and Dark Ambient elements, especially in how the reverb keeps the Drums and Synths feeling grounded, without overstating their direct influences. Overall, ‘Silent Shout’ represents some of The Knife’s most consistent and layered work, both in terms of the heightened production and the forward-thinking concept, from their golden years. The stunning title track marries elastic vocals and cosmopolitan instrumentation to a perfectionist level and there’s clearly a valid reason why it is remembered very fondly.
Thank you for checking out my latest blog post and supporting my creativity, as you have no idea how much that it means to me to see some love being registered for the site. I’ll be back tomorrow, as always, to do ‘Thursday’ with a cheerful dance track by a Los Angeles-based Alternative Soul duo with a confusing name who, originally formed in Chicago, met in 2012. Their debut LP is out now via Nettwerk Music Group.
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