The Knife: Shaking The Habitual

It's not hard to expect the unexpected when it comes to The Knife, what with their experimental trip-hop sounds and eerie sounding sometimes whisper-like singing.  The name of their forthcoming 4th studio album, Shaking The Habitual, let's us know before even listening to it that this will not be The Knife we thought we once knew.  

I'm willing to bet that is exactly what the synthy Swedish siblings wanted.

Shaking: verb; To remove or dislodge by jerky movements. To cause to lose stability or waver. To disturb or agitate; unnerve. 

Hibitual: adjective; of the nature of a habit; fixed by or resulting from habit. Commonly used, followed, observed, etc., as by a particular person. 

 Introductory track "Tooth for an Eye" seemingly ease us into their first album in seven years with traces of their past and glimpses of what's new: the familiarity of andrognous yodeling and a hint of ambientness intermingled with a drum/bongo heavy tribal melody unfamiliar to their "normal" sound que not only made my ears perk...I think that it works.  

It's still not easy to distinguish which one from the duo is singing (an element which again is probably intentional) but it is indeed Karin Dreijer Andersson's vocals on "Tooth for an Eye." Her recognizable yet unique high pitch nasally falsetto range and deliberately extended delivery carry an underlying political  theme, a theme heard more so on this album than any of their previous ones.  

 The cautious air of familiarity  slowly starts to retract as booming drum beats and vigorous drum rolls lead the way into the nine minute long second track, "Full of Fire." It's layers of various percussion, record scratching, fast tempo video game sound effects and voice distortions make for an anxeity raising  combination before the more subdued, warped sounds bring us the next track"A Cherry On Top." 

 

As the album progresses on so do the changing sounds with each song: world music type rhythms  accompanied by wind instruments and a sped up tempoed chorus make up the 4th track, "With Out You My Life Would Be Boring" while the 5th track, "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" dives back in to a deep ambiance with an intense tempo. After 55 seconds eerie seconds, "Crake" drones into a 19 minute long industrial, experimental instrumental track "Old Dreams Waiting to Be Realized" and before you know it "Old Dreams" morphs into the remaining 6 songs.

"There are so many old ideas that are not realized yet: classless society, real democracy, all peoples' right to move and be in the world with the same circumstances, I could go on," 

Olof Dreijer stated in an interview with Pitchfork Magazine. 

At times it can be uncomfortable listening through out the double album's 13 tracks which overload senses with a wide variety of ominous shrieking  alternative synth-rock questioning everything from: monarchy and patriarchy to gender and race, racism, environmentalism, class, sexuality separatism,  feminism and socialism in their very own way. In an odd way the songs

on Shaking The Habitual don't sound like it they belong on the same album yet I can't imagine any one of these songs being on any other album but this one. 

The same goes for a lot of albums out there but you really do have to be in the right mood and willing to go with them flow to enjoy the journey this album takes you on. I definitely wouldn't recommend throwing it on if you have a headache or if you're feeling nauseous.

Less dancy and comprehensible than Deep Cuts (2003) which is less dancy than Silent Shout (2006) The Knife have indeed delivered something new and still, Shaking The Habitual (available now on itunes)  is unmistakably material by The Knife.

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