Shaking The Habitual

**Their first studio album together for seven years, Swedish brother-sister duo Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer return with a highly ambitious set of experimental electronic tracks that push the structural, political and aural boundaries further than they’ve ever attempted before.**

Hardly ones to be defined by convention, the duo rarely perform live and frequently disguise themselves with masks. _Shaking The Habitual_ could hardly be further from the warmth and nostalgia of ‘Heartbeats’, the song that brought them international recognition. Here, synths are warped and strained beyond comfort, creating an aggressive and militaristic sound when combined with heavy tribal percussion, while Dreijir Andersson’s vocals are often tortured and distorted to the point of sounding robotic.

All sense of structure is completely abandoned: none of the tracks have any conventional verse-chorus layouts, instead preferring to slip and transform between all manner of different sounds and instruments. Moments of light ambience can be invaded by pounding basslines and sweeping electronic chords, before being overcome by industrial noise, and finally descending slowly back into a soft haze (‘A Cherry On Top’ and ‘Raging Lung’ serving as good examples). The fact that most tracks drag on for longer than expected – many for nearly ten minutes – does serve to highlight the feel and variety of the album, but also results in this becoming an immensely trying and difficult record to get into.

The total running time is over an hour and a half, extending tracks to the point that they can lose impact or engagement. ‘Old Dreams Waiting To Be Realized’ epitomises this – a patience-trying nineteen-minute instrumental of dark ambience, where single haunting sounds are drawn out and blurred for absolutely ages. **The Knife** really are pushing their anti-mainstream intent to the extreme here.

And yet, there are points where _Shaking The Habitual_ can become wonderfully thrilling and stimulating. ‘Wrap Your Arms Around Me’ is a melodramatic march, whilst lead single ‘Full Of Fire’ is a guttural war-cry of an anthem. It’s also their most explicitly political album (the title is inspired by a Michel Foucault quote), coming from a gender and queer theories standpoint to protest the rise of conservative politics in Sweden, with lyrics declaring they’re only “asking questions that are easy to reply”. Whilst this sounds quite dry, it’s really the excitingly distinct sounds that capture the attention.

_Shaking The Habitual_ isn’t going to win **The Knife** many new fans; 2006’s thoroughly excellent _Silent Shout_ – with its gothic-electro blend – would be a much better recommendation for the uninitiated. Instead, this is a debateable record, at once utterly engrossing and annoyingly frustrating. Many worthwhile things can be sifted from the depths, but you’re going to have to put the effort in to find them.

**Similar To:** Fever Ray, Crystal Castles

**MP3:** ‘Full Of Fire’, ‘Without You My Life Would Be Boring’