Silent Shout — The Knife
Rabid
2006
Rating:


Nothing can truly prepare the unready listener for the dark sonic barrage that is The Knife's "Silent Shout." Known outside of their native Sweden largely because of 2004's upbeat "Hearbeats" single and some Rex the Dog remixes, siblings Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson have leapt from the dancefloor into a poppy-filled abyss. "Silent Shout" is at once a synthesizer-laden throwback to the 1980s work of the Cocteau Twins and Kate Bush and as forward-looking as "Kid A."

The title track enters the ear like an assault of sound. A one-note bassline eventually gives way to a complimentary bass drum and intense synth arpeggios. Then Karin's thoroughly manipulated voice enters. Sounding like a possessed Björk, Karin sings of being haunted, and the track has a similar effect.

Rarely is something this sinister so irrefutably appealing. The synth brass of "Neverland" is Duran Duran-ready; the glacier notes that open "The Captain" eventually melt to the dancefloor with Karin's Exciter-ed voice; and "We Share Our Mother's Health" is all kitchen sink beats distilled through a drum machine. On stand-out "Marble House," Olof creates the sound of Savion Glover tap-dancing on marble as Karin laments about love gone wrong.

"Silent Shout" closes with the minimalism of "Still Light" and Karin's hospital bed-bound question, "Is it still light outside?" In the realm of this album, it's a fair question, but darkness never truly overwhelms the music. If anything, The Knife has discovered something more beautiful in its sound, something that cuts deeper.

Posted Thursday, November 30, 2006

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/music/the.knife/silent.shout