Fever Ray: having soul while still sounding soulless

I've been sitting on the self-titled debut album by Fever Ray for some time now. I've listened to it, and then put it away, listened to it, put it away, etc. This is partly due to being busy, and partly because I heard different things every time I listened to it.

This review will have to be based on my feelings from the last time I listened to it (though they very well may change again), but I hear a lot of emotion in this, something a listener may not expect going into a project that has a lot of electronics.

Fever Ray is the new project of Karin Andersson of the Swedish electronic duo The Knife. The group's icy sound was something I always enjoyed, but I didn't really feel any emotions while listening to it. It felt very sterile, as the group is very straightforward, but the emotion-less feel of it has always worked.

Fever Ray has a lot of the same production techniques as The Knife, but this time Andersson lets the emotion bleeds through. Her pain is palpable when listening to her vocals.

It doesn't matter how much her vocals are processed ("If I Had a Heart") or how weird the beats are ("Seven" sounds like something out of an educational video about touring jungles), Fever Ray is a very raw, revealing record.

The lyrics themselves are nothing revelatory, but the way Andersson uses her voice exudes pain. She comes off as a mixture of Bjork and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at her very sweetest. However, this album is better crafted than either of the two singers I just mentioned.

The album is meant to take you on a journey, and not to be too cliche, but it's your decision on how you want it to take you. It's an engaging listen that will, as I said a couple times already, reveal it to be different things at different times.

Don't let The Knife's sterile sound fool you, just give this one time. That's the way to appreciate it the most.