Silent Shout [Enhanced]

This Swedish electropp dup is still pretty low-profile, though the Knife seem to be following in the footsteps of Broadcast -- eerie, atmospheric, pretty pop music. Third album "Silent Shout" returns to the band's root sounds, after the harder techno of their last album, and it's a breath of electronic fresh air.

It opens with the blippy, spacey beats of the title track, which shimmers all over the place over some heavy grounding beats. A chorus of voices murmur, like a choir of robots. It's a great intro, and it's a big contrast to the song that comes after it -- the ominous, stomping techno of "Neverland."

The rest of the album is an attempt to reconcile the two previous sounds the band has had -- hard techno, and airy electropop. After "Neverland," there are a couple straightforward techno songs that sound like a spacier Autechre, including the robotic "Like A Pen" and the schizophrenic space bleeps of "We Share Our Mothers' Health."

But the majority of these songs are softer and stranger. The Knife dips into spacey experimental music, tropical ambience with eerie yowls, shimmery electropop, ominous lullabies, and one song that sounds like a distress call from a spaceship, set to a soft electronic beat. It winds up with the undulating, whispery "Still Light," which is perhaps the creepiest song of all.

In "Silent Shout," the Knife strike a good balance between techno and experimental soundscapes, which was missing from their previous two albums -- both were good, but they had entirely different music. They've learned moderation, using the harder beats in a softer melody, and also creating dreamy soundscapes that may not get people dancing, but might transport them to another planet.

The harder beats don't even sound catchy -- they sound more like a sonic attack. Other synth gets twisted into kettle drums, pretty shimmers, and eerie sonic walls. Karin's voice is heavily filtered by computers, but this isn't done because it's a bad voice. Rather, it makes the pretty, fragile vocals fit in with the otherworldly music, as she lets out a series of Bjorkian yowls and murmurs.

The Knife would do a great job with the soundtrack to a sci-fi movie, since they already have the right sound -- chilly, eerie and beautiful.

The Knife are one of my favourite artists right now, and for this reason I decided to buy the 'deluxe' edition of Silent Shout, their latest release. The deluxe edition comes with three CD's: the Silent Shout album (obviously), a Live audio cd (with 10 songs), and a DVD (with 12 music videos and a Live recording of The Knife performing 10 songs in concert).

I won't review the Silent Shout album because you already know it's good.
The second cd (Live audio) is also pretty great, containing six songs from the Silent Shout album, and four songs from previous releases. The only annoying thing I found was that during the beginning of certain songs, the audience would clap along to the music, and this was somewhat distracting. Other than that, the songs on this cd are great, and it gives you the chance to hear some 'remixes' of songs by The Knife.

The third cd (DVD) has the same Live recording found on disc two, but this is the video from that performance, and it is in DTS 5.1 surround sound. The concert is very visual, with many different layers of videos and images being projected onto center stage. It is quite different than most other concerts I've ever seen, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you like their music.

As for the music videos, I loved some but I hated some too. The first video is for a song called NY Hotel. I never liked the song all that much, and the video isn't all that great either, in my opinion.
The second video is for their song Heartbeats, an excellent song and a decent video. The computer animation in this one is a bit 'cheesy' to me, but the skateboarding sequences were intriguing. I believe that this video won a 'Best Video' award in Sweden, the groups native country.

The next video was one of my faves, a video for their song You Take My Breath Away. It's a very simple video, but it was great. Then comes the video for Pass This On, and this is one of my favourites as well. Again, a simple concept that is creepy yet funny at the same time.

The next video is for the song Handy-Man, and it's computer animation. It's a half-decent video, and much better than the next video, which is for the song You Take My Breath Away again (it's a 2nd version). This video has two computer-animated skeletons dancing around while many different scenes and objects fly around in the background. I got dizzy watching this one, and I found the first version to be way better.

Silent Shout (the song) is the next video; it's dark and eerie, just like the song. This video reminded me of the band TOOL. After this, the videos for Marble House, We Share Our Mothers Health, and Like A Pen are played. I did not enjoy any of these three music videos. They all seem like they are trying to cram too much into the scenes, and I found the animation to be rather boring.

After these three bad videos, the song Marble House is given a chance to redeem itself with a second music video. This one is pretty good, and again it reminds me of a TOOL video, which isn't a bad thing.
The last video is a short film, involving a rabbit with a weird voice. This 'short film' is only about 6 minutes long, and while I watched it I found myself waiting anxiously for it to end. I didn't enjoy it much. (Just as a sidenote, I said the word 'video' a bit too many times in the last few paragraphs, didn't I?)

Overall, this 3 cd deluxe edition is a great addition to anyone's music collection. I'm glad I bought it just for the several good music videos alone. The 3 cd's come in small, seperate cases, constructed out of paper rather than plastic. Also included are two small booklets: one of which has the lyrics for every song on Silent Shout, and the other has a small preface about The Knife, along with several images which are taken from the concert.

Icy. Emotive. Beguiling. Tempting. Frightening. The Knife's third and fully formed album "Silent Shout", hits where it hurts, and leaves an electronic imprint on the soul.

Title track and the most en richening off the album, "Silent Shout" delivers an atmosphere of eerie pleasures, offering up a majestically involving sound scape. With frighteningly distorted vocals, the dual voices offer a more chilling experience, leaving you with a sense of intrigue. From this track on, the album becomes more dense, and more moving.

Lead singer Karin Dreijer's vocals are very unique, delivering her own personal touches to the robotic beats. Brother Olof's deft production skills help the bring forth a complex beauty to the tracks, offering up a sonic world of heartbreak, yearning, and many other universal themes.

For a challenging, yet rewarding experience, "Silent Shout" will send chills up your spine, all while inviting you into their universe. Beats staying in this tragedy-laden one.