Shaking The Habitual
(2013)
why you'll love it: progressive and stimulating art from a truly weird place
why you'll hate it: Lots of "not music" tracks.
This is the hardest album of the year for me to review for a few reasons.
A) it's an insanely hyped overdue release. I didn't start listening to The Knife until after the bloom of their last album (the "AOTY OMG Saviors of music!" 2006 release, Silent Shout) had subsided. Since 2007, I've ingested all of the sweet and tangy synths of The Knife. All of Karin Dreijer's alluring strange accent, and all the studio magic her and her brother provide to create a musical experience that exists out of time and space. The kind of music just too weird to be boxed in as from a certain era or culture. The Knife is awesome, and 7 years builds up a lot of expectation. During that time, I had also taken in Karin's solo effort, Fever Ray; and the siblings' previous band, Honey is Cool. I am ready for the next Knife release, and ready for it to take over the world. That kind of thinking can only set you up for disappointment…
B) The Knife has slowly developed a political agenda over the years, which is just fine, until it gets to the point that it seems more like "radicalism as a fashion" more than a fair and logical solution to society's problems. I've seen a lot of bands fall off my radar, because after a while, it felt like politics were just becoming a hook, or gimmick. That, or it turns out they were a bunch of knucleheads clinging to a pointless sensational fantasy of revolution. I don't want The Knife to become that kind of a band, so I won't be digging into lyrics all that much here. Also I'm not privy to many of the modern hot button issues in Sweden.
C) Art. Even more than Silent Shout, Shaking The Habitual feels like an art exhibit rather than a collection of songs. Again, I'm cool with this to a point. Part of what draws me to this band are just how weird the songs can get. And the first half of this double LP is tasty-weird. "Full of Fire" drills into your brain, and continues to twist until the very end, right when its about to get flat-out scary. Amazing vocal effects on "Without You My Life Would Be Boring" makes that probably my favorite song on the album.
Being a double-LP gives them a lot of room; and my standard remains "30 mins of good music is all I ask from an album." Shaking The Habitual gives you your 30 minutes, but does what it wants for the other 60, and what it does for those 60 may straight up aggravate many listeners. We're talking about multiple 10 -20 minutes tracks that are NOTHING but synthesized echoes and whooshes. Again, no big deal to me, I got what I paid for already; but ambient tracks this seemingly devoid of anything interesting or thought provoking could make The Knife into the next Mars Volta, if they happen to catch the wrong kind of attention.
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So, forgiving all of that, what is left? A few really good songs, and a lot of fluff. Even with the ambient tracks thrown out, some of that style goops itself onto songs like "A Cherry on Top" and "Raging Lung" and really drags them down. Sad to say, this isn't the insanity revolution i was expecting from The Knife, but they certainly meet their own personal goals. It's an original and challenging sound. Even the songiest of songs will freak out a casual listener. They manage to set themselves apart from who they previously were yet again. While Shaking The Habitual seems like the next logical step for the duo, it is not simply Silent Shout: part 2. The electronics are sharper, more grating, and searing than they've ever been. The percussion is amazing. The drums and other outside percussion & woodwind sounds give the album a natural "from the earth" feel, at times; which is quite a feat for a production that is (for all I know) completely synthesized.
Listen to this album. Maybe it's what you've always been looking for. Maybe you'll enjoy getting lost in it, like I did with WIXIW. Maybe you'll just pick apart the 6-8 songs on it you like, and toss the rest. Maybe you'll scream "pretentious!" and hate it. No matter what, The Knife doesn't make your every day kind of music, and you gotta hear it for yourself to get a real grasp of it.
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