The Knife: Tomorrow, In a Year (Brille Records) [9.1]
First up, you have to love music, I mean really love music, for this requires all the senses, all the faculties, patience, understanding and a whole host of other attributes too fearful to mention to get your head around it all otherwise.
David Sheppard, in his BBC review of the album has it spot on here when he states:
Okay, on paper it does sound a bit complicated, esoteric and, frankly, a bit bonkers: an opera, commissioned by a Danish performance art group, based on the theories of Charles Darwin, made by Swedish siblings Olof and Karin Dreijer, alias The Knife, who are better known for digital art pop and for donning spooky plague masks than for their insights into genetic mutation. Oh, and it also features three guest vocalists, including an operatic mezzo-soprano and some obscure electronic mates from mysterious Mitteleuropa and, er, Bolton.
The album is split into two CDs and while I enjoy both, I think I must have listened to the second CD around fifty times, compared to maybe ten for the first. The second is much more accessible and is a sort of pop/electronic meets classical sound, whilst the first is much more of the experimental meets classical/operatic. There is much to take in and I have very rarely listened to the two together, being as I was a little overwhelmed after the first attempt…(I warned you, it takes a lot this one!)
The BBC compare this to Björk, Crystal Castles and Fever Ray but I hasten to add that I don’t necessarily concur with that one. I would go as so far as to say that Björk’s Volta and Medulla, have enough of the ‘crazy juice’ in them to put them on a par but I’m not sure listeners of Björk will appreciate this or indeed vice versa.
If you want to get an idea of how hard work this is at times, then just have a listen to the three tracks on CD one: Intro, Minerals and Ebb Tide Explorer, then you’ve passed the test and can move to the next level…
Today, whilst looking for something to represent the album, I found a remix of probably my favourite track on CD two: Colouring of Pigeons, so enjoy:
You know what they say (I love the they, conjuring up wonderful images always) that hard work pays off, and I’m pretty sure it has for me here. By persevering with this one I think I’ve uncovered one of the absolute gems of 2010. Give it a chance you might just love it (or go mad in the process)!
[Look out for number seven on the morrow!]
THE Music Reviewers 