I never knew this could happen to me
I know now fragility
I know there's people who I haven't told
I know of people who are getting old
In a dream I lost my teeth again
Calling me woman and half man
Yes in a dream all my teeth fell out
A cracked smile and silent shout
So begins The Knife's third album, named after the first track Silent Shout. Recorded in 2005 and released in 2006, this album represents a change in The Knife's style and image - before SS, the music had been light electro with a vague hint of a dark, almost Gothic style in a few tracks. However, the new style is a lot darker and heavier electro with several dance beats.
This album has 11 tracks, a large reduction from 17 on their previous album (Deep Cuts). The reason for this drop is not because of a lack of ideas, but the tracks are a lot longer on average and allow for the music to evolve a lot more within the songs. Typical examples of this evolution can be heard in One Hit and The Captain.
The track listing is as follows:
- Silent Shout (4'56")
- Neverland (3'40")
- The Captain (6'11")
- We Share Our Mothers' Health (4'14")
- Na Na Na (2'30")
- Marble House (5'21") - featuring Jay-Jay Johanson
- Like A Pen (6'16")
- From Off To On (4'00")
- Forest Families (4'11")
- One Hit (4'30")
- Still Light (3'16")
Each of these tracks evokes some sort of emotion or feeling inside me. We Share Our Mothers' Health, particularly with its video clip, is quite disturbing in that there seems to be an underlying theme of abortion, which is quite obvious (and emphasised) in the clip. Like A Pen is very upbeat and likeable. Forest Families, particularly with the lyrics "They said we had a Communist in the family / I had to wear a mask" aims to shock, and succeeds. Still Light is just beautiful. But by far, I think the best song on the album is Marble House. Its blend of complex music and intriguing lyrics - performed as a duet by Karin Dreijer Anderssen and Jay-Jay Johanson (as opposed to the normal duet style that Karin and Olof Dreijer perform) - make for a deep, evocative song. The only drawback I can see to this album is the slight hint of Engrish in most of the songs.
Marvellous work. 9.5/10