Fever Ray Fever Ray Rating: 8.3 Label: Rabid Records Release: March 24, 2009

Fame and success affect everyone differently. For many an MC, a smash debut album is celebrated by cruising through their hood in a brand new Lamborghini, à la Young Jeezy. Others might buy mama her dream house, [insert white reference here] or jet set around the world on a global publicity tour, soaking up adulation and accolades from the teeming masses. And then there’s The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson and her brother Olof. After a whirlwind 2006 that saw their 3rd LP, Silent Shout, receive six Swedish Grammis (which they accepted via video) and album of the year honors from pitchforkmedia.com, the siblings took a decidedly different route; they fell off the face of the earth.

While admittedly hyperbolic, it’s not too much of a stretch. Rather than immediately follow up their breakthrough record with a 4th LP and capitalize on their newfound popularity with a subsequent media blitz, the duo went on indefinite hiatus. Olof returned to making club kids sweat on dancefloors across Europe as the dubiously named DJ Coolof; sis Karin turned her attention to the birth of her second child. But Karin’s need to create could not be sated by the rigors of childbirth, and out of these post-natal writing sessions, Fever Ray was born.

Musically, the self-titled debut is nothing too new or radically different from Karin’s output with The Knife. She most likely even used the same synthesizers. Rather, the solo songwriting process finds her straying from her brother’s dance beat club influences. Instead, she’s created a string of down-tempo, atmospheric songs that slowly encapsulate the listener, rather than grab them by the crotch and drag them to the dancefloor. Make no mistake, none of Fever Ray’s 11 tracks would seem out of place on Silent Shout; the difference is you won’t find any of Olof’s thumping drums that drive that record’s title track or “Like A Pen.” Nor will you hear any of the maddeningly infectious steel drums of 2003’s Deep Cuts.

But even more interesting than what she doesn’t bring from The Knife is what she does. Her distinctive vocals that help define their sound are all over every track, and her lyrics are more beautiful and poetic than ever. Her lyrics are a whimsical blend of abstract and realistic; weaving together the spiritual and the mundane. “Seven” sees Karin effortlessly move from casual conversation “we talk about love, we talk about dishwater tablets” to the surreal “November smoke and your toes go numb/a new color on the globe/It goes from white to red/a little voice in my head.” Her lyrics are aided by the airy synth and multi-tracked vocals, which give the track a dream-like sonic landscape.

This style permeates the record, evoking beautiful but bleak imagery. Fever Ray seems like an incredibly introspective project, with Karin reflecting on her life outside of music and her post-partum experience caring for her new child. On “Concrete Walls,” she revels in the new life she has created “I live in between Concrete Walls/in my arms she was so warm,” yet laments the toll motherhood takes on her “Eyes are open and mouth cries/haven’t slept since summer.” Karin admitted as much, telling Drowned in Sound “Fever Ray is of course more personal – I didn’t have to discuss lyrics or talk about them to anybody else” (i.e. her brother).

On an album full of songs that tend to sound pretty similar, it’s difficult to name a standout track. “Triangle Walks“, one of the album’s more upbeat numbers (a relative distinction, to be sure), features a bright, vibraphone-like synth melody over a persistent bass line that demands attention. And it just might be it. “If I Had a Heart” and “When I Grow Up” both have early videos; both are as creepy/artsy as you would expect. The latter features a verse that sums up Fever Ray as well as could be hoped: “I put my soul into what I do/Last night I drew a funny man/With dog eyes and a hanging tongue/It goes way back/I’ve never liked that sad look/From someone who wants to be loved by you.”

Karin’s first solo effort will undoubtedly please fans of The Knife’s darker, introspective output. Those expecting an album full of “Handy-Man” and “Pass This On” type dance anthems, however, will be thoroughly disappointed (at least until Fred Falke does a remix). And we won’t have to wait for more Knife-related output from Karin for very long; Olof is currently in the Amazon recording “animals, fish and plants” for The Knife’s next project, a Darwin-themed opera set to open in Denmark in November 2009.

Related article: Fever Ray – When I Grow Up [Video Review]

Video: “If I Had A Heart”

Written by: Matthew Ismael Ruiz on March 24th, 2009 | Filed under Music Reviews