Finally back and settled after a whole bunch of travel, I have so much new music to listen to and talk about, and this album has been a fairly constant companion on planes and in airports for the last couple of weeks. The Knife are another Scandinavian band - firmly rooted in the wonderfully dark and melancholic electronica that seems to abound in that region (must be the dark nights). I came across The Knife (Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson) when reading about th Jose Gonzalez track (Heartbeats) that appeared in that Sony Bravia commercial last year, but don’t expect gentle guitars and soft vocals, this album is all about high production values, razor sharp vocals layered over almost alien electronics. There are tracks with brilliantly abstract melodies and haunting, almost frozen basslines and clicky rhythm tracks. The lyrics are dark and unsettling in places:

I cut your nails and comb your hair
I carry you down the stairs
I wanted to see right through from the other side
I wanted to walk a trail with no end in sight

The moment we believe that we have never met
Another kind of love it’s easy to forget
When we are all alone then we do both agree
We have a thing in common this was meant to be

You close my eyes and soothe my ears
You heal my wounds and dry my tears
On the inside of this marble house I grow
And the seeds I sow will grow up prisoners too 

Marble House - The Knife (2006)

The vocals are amazing, crossing the effect of Kraftwerk with Bjork and many reference points in between - in fact the German masters of synthpop seem to have had a heavy influence on this duo - alongside some of the classier recent electronica (Jori Hulkonnen, Massive Attack maybe Sigur Ros in places). Apparently the next single (with video) will be ‘We Share our Mothers Health - although I doubt that there will be many singles breaking into the top 20, but honestly - this stuff is way too sophisticated for pop charts…its sublime, vaguely disturbing and perfectly engaging. Brilliant stuff, buy it and be beguiled.