THE KNIFE - Shaking The Habitual

Kategorie: CD-Reviews | Genre: Electronic, Artpop/Pop | Heft: Jahrgang 2014, eclipsed Nr. 157 / 2-2014 | VÖ-Jahr: 2014 | Wertung: 6/10 | Label: Pias | Autor: BSV


The eyes go crazy: "Shaking The Habitual", the new album by The Knife, comes with bright green graphics on a pop-pink background. After all, the two large comic posters are relatively discreet with pink-grey drawings. This matches the music of the Swedish sibling duo, which has been interweaving techno-electro-pop with avant-garde and soundscapes since the beginning of the 2000s. So it is here. The opener "A Tooth For An Eye" is the prime example for their lively artpop, ethnic with lots of percussion and weird sounds, a mixture of Earthmonkey and Korai Öröm. In other places the hustle and bustle ("Full Of Fire") is annoying. Singer Karin Dreijer Andersson doesn't sing, she chuckles, giggles, twirls, shines. Björk, on the other hand, is conservative. Everything here is electronic, even the sounds of the Far East. The 19-minute sound landscape "Old Dreams Waiting To Be Realized" is simply insubstantial. If The Knife had shortened the 96 minutes of this album to 50 to 60 minutes and provided it with the best moments, it would have become a really strong album.

Top track: Stay Out Here

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