David Berthy Posts

The Fever Ray record is definitely my favorite of the year so far.
Fever Ray is the solo project of Swedish musician Karen Dreijer, who
is also one half of the brother-sister duo The Knife. Fever Ray shares
some similarities with The Knife’s sound, particularly on their last
album Silent Shout, but the Fever Ray record manages to be stranger,
darker, and more organic. Dreijer herself has described the sound as
“...a deep sleep spreading over fields and endless oceans.” Which I
can see. She’s also sited as inspiration a love of the long, wordless
musical interludes in Miami Vice (where Crockett and Tubbs zoom
through the night in a car or on a boat while staring moodily into the
distance, seemingly contemplating the likely possibility of their own
imminent demise). I can see that too, I guess, and am certainly for
anything that celebrates the virtues of Miami Vice. But what draws me
most to this music most is its ability to encode strange, disturbing,
heartfelt messages in a pop context. Included is The Knife song “Pass
This On,” and two Fever Ray songs: “Seven,” and “When I Grow Up
(Lissvik version).”

The Knife and Fever Ray