The Knife - Silent Shout (Deluxe Edition) (Brille)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
The Knife's universally acclaimed 'Silent Shout' is the kind of record that people will immediately want to class as darker than its predecessor, simply because it's got a predominantly black cover, and 'Deep Cuts' had a rather garish one. But whilst there was and is something to the duo that puts them in a league above most vacuous and purile dance music, and though 'Silent Shout' does indeed tone down the brightness that shone from 'Deep Cuts', The Knife remain one of the most over analysed bands currently active in any form of electronica. What The Knife are, and what they always have been, is a pop band. The reason that they confuse people is that they're a very good pop band, and that's such a rare thing to be able to say these days that its very utterance baffles people in to thinking that there might be something more going on here, something mystical, some dark purpose... there isn't. There are just some brilliant songs.
As such, we can use words like 'banging', 'thumping' and 'joyous' rather than searching for long winded ways to describe 'Silent Shout', because that's what it is - it's a masterful concoction of easily loveable electro tunes sung in unavoidably silly voices. It'll have you singing along in a silly voice, too - so endearing are the likes of the unfathomably sensuous 'Marble House' and 'Like A Pen' (perhaps their finest moment, and a f**king top drawer pop song).
As if to prove my point about over analysis of The Knife's work, the band themselves pretty much discuss the point in 'Forest Families'. Though obviously attempting to discuss something very important ("some kids left on their own / they said we had a communist in the family / I had to wear a mask") in the verse, it's big release comes in the repeated chorus of "I just want your music tonight" - recurring so often that it's clear that it's this big, simple musical euphoria that The Knife aim for, and not the respect of the art world. If they dig it too, so be it. But if kids aren't dancing, it's a failure.
The plaudits thrown at 'Silent Shout' since its original release have not turned it in to a perfect album. 'Na Na Na' is about as inspiring as its title suggests, 'One Hit' sounds a bit like an Outkast demo and 'From Off To On' is the opposite of what you want to do with the record when that song starts. That's harsh, it just reads well - the point is that The Knife's quieter moments are far less attention grabbing, given that they are, you know, a dance band, and nobody wants to dance to slow, delicate music.
The original disc of 'Silent Shout', which is all we've discussed so far, was only released (to huge acclaim) last year. So to justify its re-release, The Knife have gone all out, and provided a package so weighty that it makes the original edition look more like an EP. Not only is every note of the original LP replicated here, but you also get a complete live disc, and a DVD containing the album in immaculate 5.1 stereo sound along with videos and live performances. This is a curious move. The thing is, as has been well documented (even in a Rockfeedback TV interview, no less), The Knife hate playing live. The costumes, the whole mystique, the cloaked nature of their public personas, it's all trying to keep the public at bay. So why release a ten track, fifty minute live album? Why play live at all, let alone record, film and release it?
Well, they might hate it, but they're good at it. The live disc here shows the band playing what can at times be radically altered versions of hits from each of their records, (no steel drums on 'Heartbeats', oh no, and the pace of the beguiling 'Pass This On' is far more leisurely and seductive) to startlingly good effect, so much so that you might find yourself spinning this disc more than the title sphere (especially if you've already got a copy of 'Silent Shout' in another guise). But the fact remains that they don't want to do it, despite their prowess. So why are they doing it? Why is 'Silent Shout' being re-released months after its first appearance at all? Do I even need to answer that question?
Yp, there's cash in this here cow yet. And though it might not have been done with art in mind, there has at least been enough attention to detail paid in all aspects of this re-release to make it a piece of art in the end. Not that you really need to think of it as art particularly, or think that hard about anything here at all. Dancing and singing are far more appropriate reactions.
Stream 'Heartbeats (Live)' from the live disc of the deluxe edition of 'Silent Shout' on Rockfeedback HERE.
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