The Knife | ||
| Allmusic Biography : A brother-and-sister duo hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, the Knife take inspiration from vintage synth pop and forward-thinking electronic music, crafting a sound that is equally unsettling, playful, and beautiful. Olof and Karin Dreijer formed the Knife in 1999 and worked on their music in their home studios, releasing their first single, Afraid of You, in 2000 and their 2001 self-titled debut album on their own Rabid Records label. In 2003, the Knife were nominated for two Grammys, one for Best Pop Group of the Year and one for Best Pop Album for their second album, Deep Cuts. However, the Dreijers boycotted the ceremony, sending two people in gorilla costumes to protest the dominance of male acts in the music industry. They also released the Hanna Med H Soundtrack later that year. In 2004, the Knife began work on their third album in unusual locations, including a former carbon dioxide factory and the vaults of Stockholms Grand Church, before finishing their sessions in a more conventional studio. The following year, José Gonzálezs cover of the Deep Cuts single "Heartbeats" (which was from his 2003 album Veneer) appeared in a commercial for Sonys Bravia and became a hit, earning more acclaim for the Dreijers outside of Sweden. Early in 2005, the Knife performed their first-ever live show at Londons ICA, appearing with Rex the Dog (who also did a remix of Gonzálezs version of "Heartbeats") and playing in front of video created for the event by artist Andreas Nilsson. His work also appeared on How I Found the Knife, a DVD/CD set that included all of the bands videos, short films, and remixes, which was released that summer. The Knife and Nilsson teamed up again for the video for the title track of the groups third album, Silent Shout, which was released in early 2006 in Sweden and that summer in the U.S. (by Mute) and U.K. (by Brille). The Knifes darkest, most ambitious work to date, the album featured singles such as We Share Our Mothers Health, which included a mix by Trentemøller. The duo played a handful of European, Scandinavian, and North American dates in 2006, accompanied by more of Nilssons visuals. That fall, Mute reissued The Knife and Deep Cuts. The Knifes next project was Tomorrow, in a Year, an opera commissioned by the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma and inspired by Charles Darwins On the Origin of the Species. Working with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock, the duo recorded the album in Berlin, Stockholm, and Copenhagen over the course of 2008 and 2009. During that time, Karin Dreijer also worked on her own project Fever Ray with producer Christoffer Berg; the self-titled debut album arrived in 2009, and Tomorrow, in a Year was released in 2010. Early in 2013, the Knife released a new song, "Full of Fire," and announced their fourth album, Shaking the Habitual. Another single, A Tooth for an Eye, arrived before the album. An unsettling 90-minute meditation on topics including politics and the environment, Shaking the Habitual was released that April. The Knife returned the following June with Shaken Up Versions, a mini-album of some of the bands songs as they performed them on the Shaking the Habitual tour. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 9 Title: The Knife Released: 2001-02-05 Tracks: 11 Duration: 46:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Neon (04:07) 2 Lasagna (05:07) 3 Kino (03:13) 4 I Just Had to Die (04:34) 5 I Take Time (03:04) 6 Parade (03:50) 7 Zapata (04:10) 8 Bird (04:34) 9 N.Y. Hotel (02:47) 10 A Lung (03:26) 11 Reindeer (07:11) |
| The Knife : Allmusic album Review : Although it inevitably falls somewhat short of the excellent and utterly original albums that followed it, the Knifes self-titled (and originally self-released) 2001 debut does more than merely hint at the duos potential. For one thing, it reveals that their strange and idiosyncratic sensibility was fully apparent right from the beginning -- this couldnt possibly be mistaken for the work of any other band. In fact, within The Knifes considerable emotional range, and featuring the same inventive approach to synth programming and textural exploration, it already contains all the stylistic and musical elements that the duo would develop further on their later albums, encompassing both the glistening, off-kilter dance-pop of Deep Cuts and the frosty, otherworldly darkness of Silent Shout. And then of course theres Karin Dreijers voice, which isnt subjected to nearly as much processing and digital manipulation here as it would be in their later work (except on the absurd, Darth Vader-referencing "A Lung"), but its a formidable and curiously affecting instrument even in its unadulterated state. There are even some directly traceable elements for the trainspotters -- the dubby drip-like clicks that open Shouts "Like a Pen" are audible on the instrumental "Zapata," while the gently anthemic "Parade" features the lyric "we raise our heads for the color red," which would reappear as one of the more inscrutable lines in "Heartbeats." But as revealing as it may be for fans of their later work, The Knife is an eminently worthwhile listen in its own right. Freewheelingly experimental, but always in an accessible and song-driven fashion, it veers from the industrial rock menace of "I Take Time" to the poignant semi-acoustic fragility of "N.Y. Hotel" to the techno-pop chinoiserie of standout "Kino," with its infectiously chintzy riff and sturdy electro groove. At the time of this release, The Knife must have seemed inexorably indebted to the 1980s, particularly considering Dreijers oft-remarked vocal similarity to Cyndi Lauper, but in the context of the heavy synthesizer presence that has continued throughout the 2000s it sounds practically prophetic. Even so, the albums largely synthetic soundscape is punctuated by touches of organic instrumentation, often used in unexpected ways -- hushed saxophone harmonies temper the sparse, pointillistic synth-funk of "Neon," while "Parade" blossoms into a rousing Celtic folk march rich with organ and accordion -- striking an affecting balance between human and machine (something that the duo would essentially abandon with the scarily remote, technological aesthetic of Silent Shout.) Lyrically, much of the album is imagistic and elusive, but marked with the Dreijers characteristic combination of sentiment ("N.Y. Hotel"s tender farewell), creepiness ("I Just Had to Die"s ambiguous reference to "watching school girls"), and humor (the yuletide-themed "Reindeer," which is evidently sung from the perspective of one of Santas elves). | ||
 | Album: 2 of 9 Title: Deep Cuts Released: 2003-01-17 Tracks: 14 Duration: 44:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Heartbeats (03:51) 2 Girls’ Night Out (03:38) 3 Pass This On (03:48) 4 One for You (03:48) 5 The Cop (00:43) 6 Listen Now (02:50) 7 She’s Having a Baby (02:10) 8 You Take My Breath Away (04:27) 9 Rock Classics (04:56) 10 Is It Medicine (02:22) 11 You Make Me Like Charity (03:05) 12 Got 2 Let U (03:59) 13 Behind the Bushes (04:14) 14 Hangin’ Out (00:58) |
| Deep Cuts : Allmusic album Review : The second album from the Knife, Deep Cuts saw wide release only after the success of 2006s Silent Shout, a more dance-oriented work than its dark, moody successor. While the wonderful quirks of the Swedish brother/sister duo -- namely distorted vocals and prominent synth lines -- are present, they are often used in shimmering, club-ready contexts, as on the vibrant "Heartbeats" (later covered by indie-folk performer José Gonzalez) and "You Take My Breath Away," which skates along nimbly on a sheet of icy beats. If Deep Cuts is a night out on the dancefloor, Silent Shout is the chilling, shadow-filled walk home, making the former the more accessible and lighthearted of the two albums. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 9 Title: Hannah med H Released: 2003-11-26 Tracks: 16 Duration: 38:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Real Life Television (01:53) 2 Hannahs Conscious (03:43) 3 Handy‐Man (02:40) 4 High School Poem (01:23) 5 New Years Eve (04:05) 6 Three Boys (01:13) 7 This Is Now (03:55) 8 The Bridge (03:51) 9 Copenhagen (01:03) 10 Wanting to Kill (02:19) 11 Jenss Sneaking (01:17) 12 Vegetarian Restaurant (02:33) 13 At the Café (02:40) 14 A Different Way (01:15) 15 Poetry by Night (01:47) 16 Listen Now (02:50) |
 | Album: 4 of 9 Title: Silent Shout Released: 2006-02-15 Tracks: 11 Duration: 48:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Silent Shout (04:53) 2 Neverland (03:38) 3 The Captain (06:08) 4 We Share Our Mothers’ Health (04:11) 5 Na Na Na (02:27) 6 Marble House (05:18) 7 Like a Pen (06:13) 8 From Off to On (03:57) 9 Forest Families (04:08) 10 One Hit (04:27) 11 Still Light (03:15) |
| Silent Shout : Allmusic album Review : The remoteness of the Knife (aka Olof and Karin Dreijer) and the chilliness of their music makes it easy to conjure up images of the duo working in a studio that resembles the Fortress of Solitude, playing instruments carved out of ice. But if the vibrant pop of Deep Cuts was like the northern lights, then Silent Shout is a sunless, vast expanse of tundra. A much darker, more ambitious set of songs than the Knifes previous work, the album finds the Dreijers stretching their sonics and downplaying the overt poppiness of Deep Cuts and The Knife. But, while Silent Shout isnt as whimsical or immediate as the Knife has been in the past, its just as inventive, if not more so. Karin Dreijers vocals are more striking than ever; treated as another instrument in the arrangements, theyre layered, pitch-shifted, and tweaked until theres almost nothing left but tones and emotions. Her tweaked whispers on "Silent Shout" add to the songs pulsing, restrained, but very real menace; on "Na Na Na," she sounds like an alien diva. Likewise, Karins whimsical, detailed lyrics also have a darker cast, offering glimpses of strange people in stranger situations. "From Off to On" deals with voyeurism and TV addicts; on "Like a Pen," Dreijer describes a characters struggle with body issues with disturbing clarity: "Sharpen my body like a pen...something too small for a lens." Many of the albums songs -- especially "Forest Families," "The Captain," and "Still Light" -- have a hushed, eerie intensity, but Silent Shout also sets off flares of emotion against its frosty backdrops. The fantastic single "We Share Our Mothers Health" is sleek yet chaotic, with marauding vocals set against frantic synths and beats that sound like the aural equivalent of blood bouncing on ice. The equally fantastic but completely different-sounding "Marble House" -- which was inspired by the classic French film The Umbrellas of Chebourg -- embodies doomed romance with its gliding melody and brittle castanet rhythms. The Knife eventually shows off its more playful side with the lumbering, cartoonishly macho "One Hit," which gives the albums sinister bent a mischievous twist. Truly unique -- even for a group as different as this one is -- Silent Shout is the Knifes most compelling work yet. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 9 Title: Silent Shout - An Audio Visual Experience Released: 2007 Tracks: 10 Duration: 50:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Pass This On (05:38) 2 The Captain (06:10) 3 We Share Our Mothers Health (04:27) 4 You Make Me Like Charity (04:20) 5 Marble House (05:00) 6 Forest Families (04:22) 7 Kino (04:56) 8 Heartbeats (04:22) 9 Silent Shout (05:25) 10 From Off To On (05:30) |
 | Album: 6 of 9 Title: Tomorrow, in a Year Released: 2010-01-28 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:32:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Intro (04:32) 2 Epochs (05:43) 3 Geology (04:24) 4 Upheaved (03:03) 5 Minerals (01:18) 6 Ebb Tide Explorer (07:06) 7 Variation of Birds (06:41) 8 Letter to Henslow (02:01) 9 Schoal Swarm Orchestra (08:36) 1 Annie’s Box (04:28) 2 Tumult (03:28) 3 Colouring of Pigeons (11:01) 4 Seeds (09:00) 5 Tomorrow in a Year (12:20) 6 The Height of Summer (03:57) 7 Annie’s Box (alternative vocal) (04:53) |
 | Album: 7 of 9 Title: Shaking the Habitual Released: 2013-04-05 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:36:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 A Tooth for an Eye (06:04) 2 Full of Fire (09:16) 3 A Cherry on Top (08:43) 4 Without You My Life Would Be Boring (05:14) 5 Wrap Your Arms Around Me (04:35) 6 Crake (00:54) 7 Old Dreams Waiting to Be Realized (19:02) 1 Raging Lung (09:58) 2 Networking (06:41) 3 Oryx (00:36) 4 Stay Out Here (10:42) 5 Fracking Fluid Injection (09:54) 6 Ready to Lose (04:35) |
| Shaking the Habitual : Allmusic album Review : On their fourth studio album, the Knife dont change their habits as much as they push themselves to extremes. Despite its 100-minute length and political overtones, musically Shaking the Habitual isnt as radical a change as Silent Shouts sustained dread was from its predecessor, the relatively cheery Deep Cuts. The DNA of "Like a Pen," "From Off to On," and "We Share Our Mothers Health" remains, albeit in heavily mutated forms, in the albums double-jointed beats, writhing textures, and deep tones. Rather, the albums title describes the Knifes mindset, which is restless and swarming with ideas; theyre challenging their audience with these songs, but first and foremost, theyre challenging themselves. There is nothing comforting about this album, something suggested by the two songs issued before its release. "A Tooth for an Eye" turns the steel drums the Knife have used since the beginning into something anguished and alien as Karin Dreijer howls "ice, ice, ice." "Full of Fire" ratchets this tension up several notches, starting with distorted beats that sound like theyre burning, then (d)evolving into mangled electronics while Dreijer insistently hectors and interrogates her listeners and herself: "Whats the story?/Whats my opinion?" Yet theres much more to Shaking the Habitual than even those singles could have suggested. Its more like a performance art piece than a collection of pop songs, underscoring how important their work on the Darwinian opera Tomorrow, in a Year was to their artistic growth. Dreijer is as much of an actress as she is a singer on these tracks, particularly on "Networking," where her chittering, echoing vocals evoke the spread of a virus or a hive mind turning on itself. Meanwhile, "Fracking Fluid Injection"s juxtaposition of her cawing cries and increasingly violent, slicing percussion is far subtler -- and more nightmarish -- than merely expressing the earths suffering as oil is pulled from it. Shaking the Habitual is often more scary than it is dark, a distinction that only a group like the Knife could make. Even "Old Dreams Waiting to Be Realized," which taunts listeners with nearly 20 minutes of slow-building drones, doesnt just set an eerie mood; its unabashedly confrontational, even if the Knife arent as direct about it as they are elsewhere on the album. When they are direct about it, it makes for some of their most striking music, whether its "Without You My Life Would Be Boring"s pagan pop, the ferociously tribal "Raging Lung," or "Stay Out Here," a spine-tingling duet with Light Asylums Shannon Funchess. Shaking the Habitual isnt as cohesive or accessible as Silent Shout, and after experiencing the whole thing, fans may not return to it often, but its hard to deny that its an often stunning work of art. Rawer yet more sophisticated than any of their previous music, it sounds like a skin being shed, and its a testament to the Knifes skill that they make such formidable sounds so compelling for so long. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 9 Title: Shaken-Up Versions Released: 2014-06-10 Tracks: 8 Duration: 44:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 We Share Our Mothers’ Health (Shaken-Up version) (04:22) 2 Got 2 Let U (Shaken-Up version) (04:16) 3 Bird (Shaken-Up version) (05:37) 4 Without You My Life Would Be Boring (Shaken-Up version) (04:44) 5 Pass This On (Shaken-Up version) (05:19) 6 Ready to Lose (Shaken-Up version) (04:20) 7 Stay Out Here (Shaken-Up version) (08:46) 8 Silent Shout (Shaken-Up version) (07:06) |
 | Album: 9 of 9 Title: Live at Terminal 5 Released: 2017-09-01 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:19:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Wrap Your Arms Around Me (Shaken-Up live version) (05:47) 2 Raging Lung (Shaken-Up live version) (09:54) 3 We Share Our Mothers’ Health (Shaken-Up live version) (05:06) 4 Bird (Shaken-Up live version) (05:40) 5 Without You My Life Would Be Boring (Shaken-Up live version) (04:52) 6 A Tooth for an Eye (Shaken-Up live version) (06:53) 7 One Hit (Shaken-Up live version) (04:47) 8 Full of Fire (Shaken-Up live version) (09:16) 9 Collective Body Possum (Shaken-Up live version) (04:07) 10 Ready to Lose (Shaken-Up live version) (04:38) 11 Pass This On (Shaken-Up live version) (04:58) 12 Stay Out Here (Shaken-Up live version) (08:08) 13 Silent Shout (Shaken-Up live version) (05:41) |