Review of The Knife, "Silent Shout"

The Knife gained their buzz back in Sweden with the full album “Deep Cuts.” Released in 2003, it has been a testament to dark-wave and Goth scene with dark ambient tones reminiscent of funeral music meets bubble-gum pop, much like Depeche Mode having a child with Elvis Presley. With the song “Heartbeats” being covered by fellow Swedish singer/songwriter Jose Gonzalez, it was aired in a commercial by Sony, and broke into an international success back in 2005. With their underground persona flourishing in nightclubs across the world, the mystery of group remains highly prolific, as the siblings of the group Karin Elisabeth Dreijer Andersson and Olof Andersson remain behind masks or extreme juxtaposition in dark lights and distractions, their true identities hidden. Controversy surrounded the group when in 2007, the pair was nominated for eight Swedish Grammi’s, however, after winning six of them, they declined to retrieve them, instead sending some of the New York City based feminist group ‘Gorilla Girlz’ out to collect them. Their spot in the media remains a protest to the modern media culture as they rarely perform despite their popularity; still declining interviews, most live concerts, and refusing any awards they bestow.





“Silent shout” begins with their eponymous track, a quick track written in thriving triplets. Its dark base echoes with the adding of staccato synth and Karin’s sharp vocals lulled out to echoes make the music danceable, intense, progressive, and otherwise intense. However, their main single “We Share Our Mother’s Health” nesters a many different styles of music. The insatiable polyrhythms from both the calling low rhythms, to the responding treble beats mash up with the intimidating fuzz-base line become utterly surreal. Followed later by Karin’s again loud, otherwise jarring singing that can pop open the ears of the listener, the lyrics “We share our mothers health—it is what we do best” come as elusive, confusing, yet driving and extremely energetic.





The mash of both synth and the almost rap-like 60kz beats sound almost dangerous. In “One Hit” off the album, the song is almost entirely sung by Olof which is a rarity as Karin is the main vocalist of the band. His quivering voice both deep with a familiarly thick Swedish accent come as forceful with its swing style rhythm, mixed with a chorus similar to that of an early blues or jazz sound, making use of the ‘call and response’ trait. The ‘How-how-how-how’ and ‘who-who-who-who’ creates an illusion of singer-versus audience singing with subwoofer like beats; it is as if Cab Calloway rose from the dead and paired himself with Ian Curtis.





“Silent Shout” is everything satisfying for any listener looking for a new genre. It does not insult the listener with easy lyrics and boring beats, nor overwhelm with obnoxious amounts of distortion. It is homage to early new-wave bands with a style that of post-punk mixed with of course, danceable Goth music. While it may be out of the circle of common genres, it does more than satisfy the listener, it will inspire.