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Album Reviews
Album Review: Fever Ray – Fever Ray (Rabid Records)
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 23 March 2009
There’s a theory currently posited that the recent upsurge of solo female electro acts has everything to do with the “landfill indie” phenomena (ie guitar based indie music is mostly rubbish at the moment) and there’s consequently a huge gap in the market. On the other hand you could argue that these acts are all very different and they shouldn’t be arbitrarily grouped together simply on the basis of gender just for the convenience of music hacks. But whichever way you look at it there is a lot of quality electro girl pop around, and of these, Fever Ray stands out as being exceptional. For those that don’t know, this is the solo project of Karin Dreijer Andersson, the female half of brother/sister duo The Knife. For those of you who have been hiding under rocks, The Knife are the Swedish creators of some of the most exciting contemporary electronic music. The duo’s music is intense and strange and likewise their image is rather mysterious as they appear live on stage hidden by masks and screens. Karin seems keen to preserve her anonymity as in the video for the single ‘If I Had A Heart’ and in promo photos she is wearing elaborate and quite scary make up which disguises her face. The music on the album isn’t too dissimilar to that of The Knife either; atmospheric and intriguing. Hearing the “male” vocals you might even think Karin’s brother Olof has joined her in the project but in fact it is her own voice manipulated. This is far from being radio friendly; Karin’s sometimes harsh vocals might not be to everyone’s taste and the music is not immediate. But the songs reward repeated listening. ‘If I Had A Heart’ sets the dark tone, with a long distinctly menacing introduction, primal wailing and pulsating synths. ‘Dry And Dusty’ incorporates mournful keyboards and vocals together with delicate melodic bleeps. ‘Concrete Walls’ is similarly solemn but sparkles with electronic glitches. ‘Triangle Walks’ meanwhile tinkles and burbles prettily. It’s difficult to choose favourites from an album of such strong material but ‘Coconut’, with its Bowie-esque spacey, sci-fi swooshes, is certainly particularly impressive. Fever Ray is sure to clean up in the end of the year polls and this album will be near the top of my list; fascinating, inventive and mesmerising listening, music that takes you to another world. JW
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