The Knife - 'Deep Cuts' (Rabid Records)
2/5
By: Lauren Gallagher
Synth pop shouldn't be painful. When composed adequately, it can energise, entice with snappy rhythms, sleazy keys, bad haircuts, or fascinate and intoxicate amidst mellow embers of jerky wonder. Ironically, Swedish brother-sister duo The Knife name their pairing after something that causes pain, and its aftermath. And even though this album has garnered a Swedish Grammy, it does little more than force the listener to walk away wounded.
The majority of 'Deep Cuts' provides limited amounts of energising, or infectious beats, and the few more meditative tracks such as 'She's Having A Baby,' 'Rock Classics,' and 'Behind The Bushes' don't even so much as provide an enthralling soundbed. 'Girls' Night Out' begins with promise, but its one perky synth refrain gets a spastic treatment, resulting in a jarring, undanceable avant-mess. On the other hand, 'Is It Medicine' boasts the opposite - commendably dance-worthy beats - but the warbling vocals and some guttural belches prove simply disorientating.
Chopped-up rave anthems 'Listen Now' and 'The Bridge', meanwhile, fare much better, as does the dirty grind of 'Handy-Man', proving that when most stripped-back and hook-based, The Knife's infection can be somewhat captivating. Yet, woefully, much of the album ends up sounding akin to the soundtrack for a b-rate video game set on a cruise-ship (see the 'calypso' tinkerings of 'Pass This On'), and it's deeply unsettling.
Frustratingly, The Knife may cause you severe pain, as their titles suggest. Beware.
Artists in this article: The Knife
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment