Deep Cuts

It was almost a year ago that I met my Swedish flatmate and first began my love affair with The Knife. I took one listen to ‘Heartbeats’ – the first and still the best track on Deep Cuts – and knew that I’d become privy to something very special. With repeated listening (and selective leaking), I kept The Knife close to my heart. So it was with great trepidation that I learned of the release of Deep Cuts in the rest of Europe. If you truly love someone you set them free, right? Well, ladies and gentlemen, I feel it my duty to herewith present “The Knife”.

For anyone feeling drowned in the sheer volume and mediocrity of mass culture; for anyone fruitlessly seeking depth in the same recycled clichés; for anyone feeling that good, meaningful electronica is becoming increasingly rare; for anyone seeking a soundtrack to a long drive or a long party – put yourself in the capable hands of brother and sister duo Karin and Olof Dreijer.

Like the soundtrack to a futuristic film that was made in the ’80s, Deep Cuts is a whirlwind odyssey with stories and sounds that are both foreign and familiar. The tools they use – the synths, the drum machines and even the vocals – are distinctly retro but always put to imaginative use.

For me the true delight comes from the chief writer and singer Karin. Although she’s been compared to everyone from Bjork and Siouxsie Sioux to “That Chick Who Sings About Red Balloons”, her distinctive style is born principally out of a colourful accent twisting around some wonderfully twisted lines. Reference has been made to their “political ideologies”, but theirs is a mix of subtlety and parody. They use humour to expose the patriarchal society we live in, as in the one minute-long ‘Hangin Out’ where Olof slurs “I keep my dick hanging out of my pants/So I can point out what I want.”

Deep Cuts is actually The Knife’s second album, and two years on from its Swedish release, it has thoroughly withstood the test of time. But it’s not just the album, The Knife are fully rounded artistes. They design their own artwork, make cameo appearances in their own videos (see the bonus DVD of quality fare!), they’ve soundtracked an arthouse film and staged a Guerrilla Girls-inspired attack when they collected their Swedish Grammy award. What’s not to like? The only tragedy is that they don’t play live.