The Knife (2005)
Interview Background
Considering the incredibly determined, unconventional musical route she’s taken since this 2005 interview, I sometimes feel it’s a wonder I was even given these 20 minutes to explore the mind of Karin Dreijer-Andersson, the woman behind both Fever Ray and, with her brother Olof Dreijer, Swedish electro wunderkinds The Knife. Still promoting Deep Cuts despite its follow-up Silent Shout being just months from release, Dreijer-Andersson’s overriding aura was cautious and cool, but there were a number of moments when she punctuated her answers with a soft Scandinavian giggle. Despite Deep Cuts capturing The Knife’s most overt pop dabbling before they leapt into forays attracting a more ‘select’ audience, I have a great respect for artists who fearlessly charter their own course. The gravity of Dreijer-Andersson’s answers in this interview became more obvious as their later projects blossomed.
The following is an edited version of an interview printed in Attitude magazine in summer 2005.
The Knife - Look Sharp!
by Scott McLennan
Forget Roxette - The Knife are here to prove Swedish duos can offer more to the music world than soppy soundtrack additions to Julia Roberts films. Since forming in the late 1990s, siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer have systematically shunned live appearances and media attention, yet the slow-burning success of The Knife’s electro album Deep Cuts has ensured their popularity can no longer be suppressed by promotional curfews.
Speaking in Stockholm and punctuating her paragraphs with tiny Swedish giggles, Karin Dreijer still appears to be uneasy about the market pressures that have accompanied The Knife’s move into the global market.
“Yes, it’s more difficult with other labels involved,” she suggests. “There are a lot more people who want to say something about what we do now, but at the same time it makes it possible to reach a new audience.”
The Knife have always upheld an embargo on touring their music, although a short London gig in 2005 marked their live debut. Karin doesn’t rule out further shows if an appropriate means can be found.
“I think that show went fine but it was very short and we did it because a friend of ours had made very good visuals which had a theme,” Dreijer recalls. “If we come up with something as good as that maybe we’ll do it again.
“We are thinking about live shows and making a visual solution,” the singer continues. “That’s the difficult part when you are working with programmed music - it’s not so fun to look at when we are not playing any instruments. It will have to be some kind of themed visuals or like Kraftwerk using robots, but we’ll see.”
Praising bands such as Kraftwerk and Gorillaz for their anti-imagery (“It’s a good thing that they do that. It’s another way instead of just sticking your face everywhere.”), Dreijer also despairs at the lack of women in the music industry.
“I think the saddest part is that women’s role in music is so narrow,” she laments. “If you are female there are standards you have to fit in. I think there are many broader areas for men, but for women how they should sing and make music is not so broad.”
Not only did they once send a pair of feminists dressed as gorillas to the European Grammys, The Knife also use masks and face paint to conceal their identity in their general media images.
“We want to move the focus from the artists to the music,” Dreijer outlines. “I think the music should stand by itself. You shouldn’t have to look at the person behind it - I think that’s one of the reasons we don’t use our image to promote our music. There’s so much focus on the people and their lifestyle, so I think that’s quite stupid.”
Dreijer and her brother’s creativity is not only present in the varied electronic soundscapes produced on Deep Cuts’ succession of gorgeous pop songs, it is also obvious in their album sleeves and video clips. Dreijer has previously mentioned that she sees pictures in her head when she writes songs.
“I think they are very abstract pictures,” she reiterates. “They are more pictures of feeling and colour. I see Heartbeats as a pure love story, but I know that our video director thought it was about somebody who was really giddy from fever or something. I feel that it is very personal and I hope that people can have their own pictures about it.”
The Knife’s beautiful single Heartbeats has seized additional attention via folk singer Jose Gonzalez’ version, which soundtracks the Sony television commercial featuring 20,000 super balls unleashed on the streets of San Francisco.
“Jose’s manager called us up and asked if we were okay to use it. It’s hard for us to do because we’ve never done any music for commercials. I don’t think it is so good to do that, but one of the positives for us was the fact it was a cover - it wasn’t us performing. We got a lot of money for our label to continue with our other video projects and perhaps use for our live show – which is going to be very costly.”
But the breathtaking nature of the advertisement surely didn’t devalue your song?
“It’s beautiful, but it’s still a commercial,” Dreijer answers stoically. “It wasn’t made to be beautiful - it was made for selling TVs - so it doesn’t matter how it looks like I think.”
While headstrong opinions put The Knife at odds with many elements of the music industry, a fun and sexy aura pervades Deep Cuts. On You Take My Breath Away, Dreijer suggests she ‘wanted to get laid to Take My Breath Away’ in reference to the Berlin song from the film Top Gun.
“I think it was more like the sort of song that everybody had to like,” she notes with amusement. “I think I was too young to have sex to it then, but everybody had to listen to the same songs when you were that age and you weren’t so free. I don’t see my lyrics as personal and private stories, I see them more as poetic. I can’t say I’ve done everything in the lyrics, so I don’t think it’s important to admit if I’ve done all the things I say.
“I am a storyteller,” Dreijer concludes. “I try to tell good stories.”
Deep Cuts (EMI/Ministry of Sound)
Unpublished Interview Material
You boycotted the Grammys and sent two gorillas instead – were you fans of the KLF and the way they subverted dance music with similar actions?
"I know the KLF and I used to listen to them a lot a long time ago, but the gorilla thing was from the American Guerrilla Girls, who make similar performances and action. I think you should check their website at guerrillagirls.com – they make cultural action against music industry and the arts."
Could you foresee working with an artist like Madonna if she asked to collaborate with you?
"I think it could be very difficult to get freedom in the studio if you work with a commercial artist like that, so I’m very unsure. Even if she said that she wanted to do something and would leave it up to us, I don’t think she would be satisfied at the end. People have approached us, but I have tried to focus on our Knife album for the most part of last year, so I don’t have any plans now. I haven’t said yes to any other projects since Royksopp."
Did you know the actress Marianne Schroder or director Martin de Thurah before you filmed the video for Royksopp’s What Else Is There with them?
"They asked if I wanted to appear in the video to do the vocals, but I didn’t want to be the lead – I just wanted a small part. They put the model in the main role and I had to do a small spot. That was fine I think and the model [Marianne] was nice."
What are your feelings towards The Knife’s remixes by DJs such as Mylo and Rex The Dog?
"I especially like the Rex The Dog remix and the Dahlback & Dahlback remix of Pass This On – it’s really good. We’ve started to look at remixers for the next album as it is much more ambient, suggestive and dark, so we’ve been looking for minimalist remixers. We already have maybe three remixes already: Finder from Amsterdam, Troy Pierce and a guy from Mylo’s band - William. We tried to find more dark and suggestive remixers."
The sleeve for Deep Cuts was all about bright, linear colours - what will be the theme of the artwork for the new album Silent Shout?
"It’s dark blue, black and maybe some purple in it. Hopefully the videos are going to be a little more scary and the video director can include the darker themes! We’ve started to work with Andreas Neeson, who made Heartbeats, but we will also probably work with different directors as Andreas doesn’t have much time."
You obviously enjoy manipulating your voice – it’s deep and Germanic on Rock Classics and young and squeaky on Pass This On.
"I think that’s the way to broaden the way female vocalists should be. I think it’s important to sing the way you want and sometimes the character of the song needs to be made by a very deep vocal and other times a high pitched song. The expression of each song means the voice needs to be manipulated in a certain way."
Considering the incredibly determined, unconventional musical route she’s taken since this 2005 interview, I sometimes feel it’s a wonder I was even given these 20 minutes to explore the mind of Karin Dreijer-Andersson, the woman behind both Fever Ray and, with her brother Olof Dreijer, Swedish electro wunderkinds The Knife. Still promoting Deep Cuts despite its follow-up Silent Shout being just months from release, Dreijer-Andersson’s overriding aura was cautious and cool, but there were a number of moments when she punctuated her answers with a soft Scandinavian giggle. Despite Deep Cuts capturing The Knife’s most overt pop dabbling before they leapt into forays attracting a more ‘select’ audience, I have a great respect for artists who fearlessly charter their own course. The gravity of Dreijer-Andersson’s answers in this interview became more obvious as their later projects blossomed.
The following is an edited version of an interview printed in Attitude magazine in summer 2005.
The Knife - Look Sharp!
by Scott McLennan
Forget Roxette - The Knife are here to prove Swedish duos can offer more to the music world than soppy soundtrack additions to Julia Roberts films. Since forming in the late 1990s, siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer have systematically shunned live appearances and media attention, yet the slow-burning success of The Knife’s electro album Deep Cuts has ensured their popularity can no longer be suppressed by promotional curfews.
Speaking in Stockholm and punctuating her paragraphs with tiny Swedish giggles, Karin Dreijer still appears to be uneasy about the market pressures that have accompanied The Knife’s move into the global market.
“Yes, it’s more difficult with other labels involved,” she suggests. “There are a lot more people who want to say something about what we do now, but at the same time it makes it possible to reach a new audience.”
The Knife have always upheld an embargo on touring their music, although a short London gig in 2005 marked their live debut. Karin doesn’t rule out further shows if an appropriate means can be found.
“I think that show went fine but it was very short and we did it because a friend of ours had made very good visuals which had a theme,” Dreijer recalls. “If we come up with something as good as that maybe we’ll do it again.
“We are thinking about live shows and making a visual solution,” the singer continues. “That’s the difficult part when you are working with programmed music - it’s not so fun to look at when we are not playing any instruments. It will have to be some kind of themed visuals or like Kraftwerk using robots, but we’ll see.”
Praising bands such as Kraftwerk and Gorillaz for their anti-imagery (“It’s a good thing that they do that. It’s another way instead of just sticking your face everywhere.”), Dreijer also despairs at the lack of women in the music industry.
“I think the saddest part is that women’s role in music is so narrow,” she laments. “If you are female there are standards you have to fit in. I think there are many broader areas for men, but for women how they should sing and make music is not so broad.”
Not only did they once send a pair of feminists dressed as gorillas to the European Grammys, The Knife also use masks and face paint to conceal their identity in their general media images.
“We want to move the focus from the artists to the music,” Dreijer outlines. “I think the music should stand by itself. You shouldn’t have to look at the person behind it - I think that’s one of the reasons we don’t use our image to promote our music. There’s so much focus on the people and their lifestyle, so I think that’s quite stupid.”
Dreijer and her brother’s creativity is not only present in the varied electronic soundscapes produced on Deep Cuts’ succession of gorgeous pop songs, it is also obvious in their album sleeves and video clips. Dreijer has previously mentioned that she sees pictures in her head when she writes songs.
“I think they are very abstract pictures,” she reiterates. “They are more pictures of feeling and colour. I see Heartbeats as a pure love story, but I know that our video director thought it was about somebody who was really giddy from fever or something. I feel that it is very personal and I hope that people can have their own pictures about it.”
The Knife’s beautiful single Heartbeats has seized additional attention via folk singer Jose Gonzalez’ version, which soundtracks the Sony television commercial featuring 20,000 super balls unleashed on the streets of San Francisco.
“Jose’s manager called us up and asked if we were okay to use it. It’s hard for us to do because we’ve never done any music for commercials. I don’t think it is so good to do that, but one of the positives for us was the fact it was a cover - it wasn’t us performing. We got a lot of money for our label to continue with our other video projects and perhaps use for our live show – which is going to be very costly.”
But the breathtaking nature of the advertisement surely didn’t devalue your song?
“It’s beautiful, but it’s still a commercial,” Dreijer answers stoically. “It wasn’t made to be beautiful - it was made for selling TVs - so it doesn’t matter how it looks like I think.”
While headstrong opinions put The Knife at odds with many elements of the music industry, a fun and sexy aura pervades Deep Cuts. On You Take My Breath Away, Dreijer suggests she ‘wanted to get laid to Take My Breath Away’ in reference to the Berlin song from the film Top Gun.
“I think it was more like the sort of song that everybody had to like,” she notes with amusement. “I think I was too young to have sex to it then, but everybody had to listen to the same songs when you were that age and you weren’t so free. I don’t see my lyrics as personal and private stories, I see them more as poetic. I can’t say I’ve done everything in the lyrics, so I don’t think it’s important to admit if I’ve done all the things I say.
“I am a storyteller,” Dreijer concludes. “I try to tell good stories.”
Deep Cuts (EMI/Ministry of Sound)
Unpublished Interview Material
You boycotted the Grammys and sent two gorillas instead – were you fans of the KLF and the way they subverted dance music with similar actions?
"I know the KLF and I used to listen to them a lot a long time ago, but the gorilla thing was from the American Guerrilla Girls, who make similar performances and action. I think you should check their website at guerrillagirls.com – they make cultural action against music industry and the arts."
Could you foresee working with an artist like Madonna if she asked to collaborate with you?
"I think it could be very difficult to get freedom in the studio if you work with a commercial artist like that, so I’m very unsure. Even if she said that she wanted to do something and would leave it up to us, I don’t think she would be satisfied at the end. People have approached us, but I have tried to focus on our Knife album for the most part of last year, so I don’t have any plans now. I haven’t said yes to any other projects since Royksopp."
Did you know the actress Marianne Schroder or director Martin de Thurah before you filmed the video for Royksopp’s What Else Is There with them?
"They asked if I wanted to appear in the video to do the vocals, but I didn’t want to be the lead – I just wanted a small part. They put the model in the main role and I had to do a small spot. That was fine I think and the model [Marianne] was nice."
What are your feelings towards The Knife’s remixes by DJs such as Mylo and Rex The Dog?
"I especially like the Rex The Dog remix and the Dahlback & Dahlback remix of Pass This On – it’s really good. We’ve started to look at remixers for the next album as it is much more ambient, suggestive and dark, so we’ve been looking for minimalist remixers. We already have maybe three remixes already: Finder from Amsterdam, Troy Pierce and a guy from Mylo’s band - William. We tried to find more dark and suggestive remixers."
The sleeve for Deep Cuts was all about bright, linear colours - what will be the theme of the artwork for the new album Silent Shout?
"It’s dark blue, black and maybe some purple in it. Hopefully the videos are going to be a little more scary and the video director can include the darker themes! We’ve started to work with Andreas Neeson, who made Heartbeats, but we will also probably work with different directors as Andreas doesn’t have much time."
You obviously enjoy manipulating your voice – it’s deep and Germanic on Rock Classics and young and squeaky on Pass This On.
"I think that’s the way to broaden the way female vocalists should be. I think it’s important to sing the way you want and sometimes the character of the song needs to be made by a very deep vocal and other times a high pitched song. The expression of each song means the voice needs to be manipulated in a certain way."
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