Dark electronic mood music on artist’s solo debut

• Tweet
• 

On the self-titled solo effort debut from Fever Ray, Karin Dreijer Andersson offers solid electronic tunes, similar in sound and mood to her work with the Swedish electronic duo, The Knife.

“If I Had A Heart,” the album’s stand-out opener, sets the album’s dark, impenetrable mood without haste. A detuned piano sample loops into infinity as a heartbeat-like bass pulse carries the song through to its end.

Andersson’s menacing and deeply affected vocals sit atop the mix as warm synths execute an indigenous melody just beneath.

“If I Had A Heart” does what Fever Ray does best: creates an icy, inhuman, moody and claustrophobic vibe that listeners may or may not find solace in.

While much of the album is nearly impenetrably dark, there are several moments of sweet and welcome reprieve, though none as wonderfully dancefloor-ready as The Knife’s breakout single, “Heartbeats.”

While Andersson may not be able to reach such highs on her own, there are certainly some more lighthearted tracks that help break-up the album’s rather tense mood.

One such track is “Seven,” a tune that comes as close as any on the album to a dance song, and manages to be one of the most warm and human songs on the entire album.

“I’ve got a friend who I’ve known since I was seven/We used to talk on the phone if we had time/If it’s the right time,” Andersson sings in the song’s opening moments, her vocals devoid of the detuning effect that’s so prevalent on the rest of the album.

Part of what makes Fever Ray such a challenging listen is the limited sound palette that Andersson is working from. Tinny electronic beats, airy synthesizers, heavily affected vocals, plonky percussive samples and thin hi-hat hits appear on just about every single one of the album’s ten tracks.

While Andersson is fairly good at using the sounds in different ways on each song, and the use of said sounds creates an illusion of cohesiveness, the lack of variation can be downright frustrating at times.

It is a ten track album with some incredibly memorable highs and a large number of downright mind-numbing lows.

Fever Ray may not be for everyone. Fans of Andersson’s previous work with The Knife will likely feel right at home, considering there’s little departure from that group’s sound.

However, people unfamiliar with The Knife will likely feel alienated by the dark, impenetrable mood and limited amount of variation.

features@cm-life.com