No Majesty Music Profiles takes a look at artists’ careers from start to present, with the aim of documenting their impact on music culture.
Sublime or grotesque, chaotic or methodical, heaven or hell, the music of The Knife never really fitted comfortably into a genre other than electronica, and even that label seemed too vague to convey the ambition and depth of a band that was never afraid to go it alone, and without definition.
The Knife consisted of siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer, and was originally formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1999. While there was collaboration with other musicians throughout the band’s run, the vast majority of the music was created by Karin and Olof, with Karin providing most of the vocals, often manipulated to sound terrifying and twisted.
The music of The Knife occupied its own niche in terms of musical exploration and progress, and describing it always seemed to be part of the journey. Possessing no particular familiar formula, each of the band’s albums built on the style of the previous. The first, eponymous album clouded the mind with different styles of beats, both melodic and stuttering yet immensely enjoyable. Unlike most other forms of electronica in the mainstream at the time, the early work portrayed a sense of development, of things still to come. That arrived in the form of the second album, Deep Cuts. More complete and organised, the tracks burst out. ‘Listen Now’ smacks of jingoistic mayhem, a fast-paced tune that settles the body on regular movement only for ‘The Cop’ to lead you down a dark and foreboding path of unhappiness and violence, an unpleasant world not fit for habitation.
Yet it was for the third album, Silent Shout, that the band probably received its biggest global recognition. Mature, full of substance and class, the album helped the band to win awards and further highlighted their talents. While darker than previous albums, the album got a good critical reception and encouraged the band to start touring. The result can be seen on the tour DVD Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the Knife was their ability to combine the music with fantastic visual displays. The band did not tour until 2006 to perform live for the first time. Not surprisingly, the tour sold out and from then on, it seemed hard to separate the two aspects. The Knife were able to straddle between two different worlds, the reality of here and now and a fantasy world. The band themselves rarely liked to appear in public, opting to send pre-recorded messages dressed in Venetian masks to award ceremonies. The attitude was the same when it came to mainstream media, a reluctance to participate in the standard practice of interviews and promotion. They chose to let the music speak for itself and not let it be defined by them as individuals.
Such passion and talent led to a collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock in 2010 to produce Tomorrow, in a Year, an opera based on Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The opera, performed by Hotel Pro Forma, was a conceptual universe, based on Darwin’s thoughts and experiences with the Knife creating the music to support the performers. Considered visually stunning and a new take on electro-opera, it was a success.
The fourth album, Shaking the Habitual, divided many fans and critics. An opportunist album that explored extended instrumental processions and turned their previous work on its head, the result was a heady mix that at times seemed much more heavy-hearted and almost sludgy, compared to the more light-footed electropop that was so prominent in earlier albums. The accompanying tour was also criticised as an acting troupe was used for live performances, the band themselves never seen, leading to debate about whether they were actually there or not.
The sense of expectation may have weighed heavily on the band. In what turned out to be their final interview, Karin commented “We have no obligation to continue, it should only and always be for fun”. This indicated that, for them, the Knife was not perhaps so much fun anymore. Not long after that interview, the Knife announced that they would disband after the conclusion of the Shaking the Habitual tour. Indeed, solo projects seemed to overtake the pace of the band. Karen performed as Fever Ray, producing two albums full of complexity and emotion, while Olof continues to perform as Oni Ayhun and DJ Coolof.
The Knife kept everyone guessing to the end. Like the narrators of macabre fairy tales, their music had the ability to take your mind away to somewhere far away and not always somewhere pleasant. Sweden continues to produce great electronica bands, like Carbon Based Lifeforms, but the Knife will often be among the first name people will recognise. Other bands might try to fill the void but are unlikely to succeed, because the Knife invited listeners to join in another world of music, where membership simply relied on the ability to disregard all previous expectations.
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