Old but good

The Knife — Silent Shout (2006)

The Knife’s first two albums — 2001’s The Knife and 2003’s Deep Cuts were solid, but it is their third album, 2006’s Silent Shout, that is their quintessential record. The Swedish brother-sister duo (Karin Dreijer and Olof Dreijer) makes music which is intriguing, strange, experimental, a little dark and a little creepy — and they’re on top form here. Silent Shout has all these ingredients, but it’s also very melodic and it’s very much pop music. You can dance to a lot of the songs, though the lyrics can feel like a punch to the gut because they’re rather dark.

One theme explored often is that of dangerous men and women’s fear of them (“nothing is more fatal than angry man” from Neverland; “I’ve got mace, pepper-spray, and some shoes that run faster than a rapist rapes” on Na Na Na; an abusive and misogynistic man bragging about his behaviour and male privilege on One Hit). Other topics explored include religion, loneliness and death.

Karin’s vocals are often distorted to either sound very deep or very high-pitched — both are creepy yet hypnotic in their own way. One is a domineering “masculine” energy while the other is a sometimes soft, sometimes creepy “feminine” energy. If Black Mirror was a dark, Euro-pop album, Silent Shout would be it. ● L