Cuts So Deep

The Knife are coming out with a new album!

Dummy Mag grabbed an interview with the duo

THE KNIFE are one of the best bands on the planet, and on the 1st March, Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer will release a CD of their recent Darwin-themed opera, ‘Tomorrow In A Year.’ Just ten days ago, David Mcfarlane talked about Karin’s astonishing ability to construct her own, bracingly unique reality with her Fever Ray project. Much of that is also true of the Knife. Darwin and opera seems at first like an ill fit for the Knife – their music glitters with complexity, but is fundamentally pop. Lyrically, while hardly prosaic, are rooted the personal, even the everyday – falling in love, one-night-stands, taxes, cracked smiles, silent shouts.

Of course, that’s meaningless.

The Knife are not only one of the best bands on the planet, they are one of the most fearless. Across their three albums, the Knife’s music has always treaded a fine line between the stylistic pretensions of performance art and the structures of pop-dance. They do things like dress up in bird masks and perform behind screens of mist. Texture, myth and narrative is far more important for them than any other crap that might go along with being one of the best bands on the planet.

Of course, that’s also meaningless.

What isn’t meaningless is that ‘Tomorrow, In A Year’ is an astounding, astounding, astounding CD with a fascinating story. It’s furiously heterogeneous, taking in found music, soundscape, opera and electro. It’s about geology, humanism, evolutionary theory and biological time, and it’s actually really profoundly moving. Plus, the lyrics mention Jacobins and ostriches, so it gets an A+ on that count.

On with the show.

In the weeks leading up to the release, there will be more Knife-related reflection (and a fair amount of sycophantic garbling) on this site. In the meantime, I’m pleased to share an interview Olof gave over the weekend.

Interview here

It features:

CD 1
1. Intro
2. Epochs
3. Geology
4. Upheaved
5. Minerals
6. Ebb Tide Explorer
7. Variation Of Birds
8. Letter To Henslow
9. Schoal Swarm Orchestra

CD 2
1. Annie’s Box
2. Tumult
3. Colouring Of Pigeons
4. Seeds
5. Tomorrow In A Year
6. The Height Of Summer
7. Annie’s Box (Alt Vocal)

CANNOT WAIT!

Heartbeats