The Knife's Karin Dreijer begins 2009 with a breakaway side project labeled Fever Ray. Dreijer has always been known for her excellent work as The Knife, along side her partner in acoustics (and brother), Olof Dreijer. The two of them have toured world-wide and have three full length albums: the 2001 Self-Titled release, Deep Cuts from 2003, and 2006's acclaimed release Silent Shout.
Although not a drastic change in sound, Fever Ray works solely on Karin's musical strengths. There are tracks that feature the signature, deep vocal distortion as is expected of her, along with an appropriate pairing with face-up vocal work that remains unedited. Refreshing, as per usual for The Knife, Fever Ray retains a foreign element to its sound. Being a native of Sweden, Dreijer creates a sound with characteristics that fans of North American electronica are not familiar with. A listener perhaps would have a pre-conceived notion of general vocal distortion to make the lyrics sound robotic or synthetic. However with The Knife and Fever Ray, the product is more ghostly or banshee-like.
The album begins with an eerie first track (and first released single), "If I Had a Heart", and continues as a lush, dark, and textured sound-scape until its finish. Overall a very anticipated release which will be in stores later this year on Rabid Records.
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