FEVER RAY
Fever Ray
(Mute)
Wed February 18, 2009

words_john barclay

Kudos should be rationed to all who create goth music without invoking images of Hot Topic. The Knife’s frontwoman, Karin Dreijer Andersson, has once again managed this, creating dark and gloomy forest music for the avant-garde fairy/gnome elite. Knife groupies will be delighted to hear she’s still using a lot of their signature moves, including those Scandinavian chopped-and-screwed vocal effects and synthetic percussion for lead melodies. Those same groupies, however, should be forewarned of the discrepancies between Fever Ray and The Knife. The fireworks that reeled many of us in have been replaced with candlelight. There’s nothing left to dance to and little that even warrants head-bobbing. Rather, Fever Ray communicates Andersson’s same shadowy feelings in an intimate and precise setting. Fortunately that setting is an enchanted forest deep in the mountains of Middle Earth.

FEVERRAY.COM