Jul/090
NEW MUSIC: Fever Ray – Fever Ray (2009)
The blurb:
An offshoot / solo project from Karin Dreijer Andersson of acclaimed Swedish electro duo The Knife. Andersson combines variously twisted vocals over crisp downtempo beats.
Sounds like:
The production reminds me in places of Pan Sonic’s ultra-lean Aaltopiiri, particularly in the rhythm sections, albeit liberally smothered with 80s sonic bling. Thow in a clear love for “world” instruments, and you’ve a got a bonkers combination which I’ve only ever heard on this record.
Thoughts:
This post has been in draft for far too long. The honest truth is that I’ve spent far to much time listening to and enjoying Fever Ray which has distracted me from writing it up. It’s bloody excellent. Can I stop writing and go put it back on repeat now?
This is a record full of smartly crafted, expansive, shuffling beats – replete with the hand claps, tersely cut snares and natural crashes expected of a serious modern electronic production – but the way they are delivered is quite unique. The appearance throughout of tabla, gamelan, acoustic guitar and other cross-cultural touchstones (including a particularly enjoyable pan-pipe line on Keep The Streets Empty For Me, which somehow reclaims that sound from the South American street band) give the music much more character than if it just stuck to synth sounds. That pseudo-nomadic aural reference really works with the isolated, exposed, drifting lyrical persona. As an album it has a fantastic awareness of it’s own sound palette. Oh, and the lyrics are touched with a charming, frustrated madness: “by the kitchen sink / we talk about love / we talk about dishwater tablets / and we dream about heaven”.
Verdict:
Mad, claustrophobic, personal and very well executed. Now I can go put it back on.
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