Fever Ray Rises

Some of you might be familiar with the Swedish brother / sister duo of Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer-Andersson who perform(ed) under the name The Knife. Well, after releasing their last album back in 2006, Karin has decided to pursue a different musical path under the moniker Fever Ray.

Her new, self-titled album, which came out earlier this week, is both similar and different to her previous work with her brother. Her sound is still heavily dependent on a multi-layered electronic assemblage of sounds that present an almost sterile beauty to them. The beats are perfectly struck, layers weaving in between each other, and Karin's quite distinct voice laying down obtuse lyrics. Take, for instance, the album's second cut, When I Grow Up, which you can listen to (and watch) below:

When I grow up
I want to be a forester
Run through the moss on high heels
That's what I'll do
Throwing out a boomerang
Waiting for it to come back to me

Even with its inorganic distance though, it doesn't quite push you completely away, and if anything begs you to make sense of vocals which approach at odd angles, much like the music.

Fever Ray - When I Grow Up : Fever Ray
(watch the video)

Visit her website, her label Mute Records, and become her friend on MySpace.

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The Knife - Silent Shout : Silent Shout