You’re standing alone on the edge of a post-apocalyptic world with white war paint streaked defiantly across your face, starting purposefully out an unconcerned sky. It’s not a question of whether you’ll jump, but rather when you’ll take off the headphones blaring Fever Ray and walk back to reality. This is where the side project of The Knife’s lead singer Karin Dreijer takes you — somewhere that’s unpleasantly exotic but completely necessary, her intense croon weaving through the synapses in your brain like a charmed cobra, the stripped-down, future-forward beats leaving their footprints behind in your mind. It’s unsurprising then, that Fever Ray became the darling of critics and fans since the debut album dropped last spring with videos as stunning as the songs themselves. This month, we were more than ready for a word with the enigmatic frontwoman, who spoke to us from what we can only imagine as a bunker somewhere outside a Swedish village…
The imagery in Fever Ray songs and in the videos is surely dark. How did you come to these tone when Stockholm itself is not really this way (URB was there last summer and loved it)?
I think I just have to go into my studio and shut everything else out — it’s easier to focus when there’s not so many people around. I need peace and quiet when I’m about to work. I actually live outside of Stockholm and have my studio there. I don’t really like going inside the city because it’s too crowded. It’s 1 million people and it’s very hard to ride your bike there. But 15 minutes outside the city and you’re in the countryside.
Your two projects, The Knife and Fever Ray, get compared a lot. Could a Knife song slip onto a Fever Ray album and work for that project or vice versa? What really separates the two?
For me, the difference is a matter of time, of when it happens. Fever Ray is the thing I’ve been working with the last two years. The difference is with The Knife it’s a collaboration, i work with Olaf. With Fever Ray, it’s only me writing. I don’t know what kind of music The Knife would do at this moment, but we have been working on an opera with a Danish theater company. It is called Hotel Proforma — they have made very interesting experimental pieces like in beteween threater, dance, music and film. They have so much experience and we thought it would be really interesting to work with them. They asked us to write music one and a half years ago and if finally opened in Copenhagen in August.
The video for “When I Grow Up” is incredible, yet so simple. Tell me about making videos, what you remember most.
I’ve been in a video once. I don’t like being in them. I try to find video directiors that have their own ideas of making art. It’s very important they know what they are doing, and that they want to make their own interpretation of the music. First, I usually discuss with them a lot about references and ideas, but they write the treatment and after that Ii stay out of the process as much as possible. I wasn’t at the video shoot for “When I Grow Up.” It was done by a Danish guy, Martin. We talked a lot about what kind of character it was supposed to be. We talked in the end about the editing. Yes, I think it’s really beautiful. It’s really nice that there’s a lot of water in it. In the first video, they ride in a canoe.
It seems like you love bodies of water.
I was brought up on the west coast of Sweden and it’s a very long and small country and there is a lot of water. You’re always quite close to the sea. It brings a feeling of freedom, i think, to be close to the sea. It’s a little strange now living on the east coast because it’s not really sea, it’s not salt water.
Who’s responsible for Fever Ray’s beats?
I did most of the programming and recording and writing and mostly used one drum machine for the whole album. It’s a little software thing on my computer. I worked on my own for 8 months and then I asked Chris and The Subliminal Kid to help with final and the mixing. They changed the source sounds into more analog sounds but kept the programming. I like to work very simple and very clear. I don’t like to make beats with too many different sounds — I just want to keep it as simple and minimal as possible.
Wow, that’s great. The beats are amazing — so unique. Did you do any with The Knife?
I did some with The Knife but all of those were uptempo beats.
Will this be a one-album project, or are you open to doing another recording?
I don’t know, really. I plan to go back into my studio in January, and I don’t know if it will be with Olaf and well do a Knife album or if I’ll do something else.
How was the name Fever Ray decided on?
It was quite late in the process , i was almost finished wth the album. I wanted to find a name that described sending out feveish beams, or rays, that sounds like something that person can do when they make this type of music.
We hear you’re obsessed with Miami Vice. What about it do you love and how has your love for it affected your sound (if at all)?
The way they use musc is very rare today, because at first it’s written for that special show but they have small music videos within the episodes. The music gets a lot of room. In Sweden, this is very exotic for us with Miami’s warm climate. I also like the tempo of the show and the way it uses silence.
Last question and kind of a silly one — are you very good with plants?
Haha. i think i fantasize a bit about being good with my garden . i have a very tiny one, but I think it’s fun. It’s not stressful at all, it’s something that you can forget to take care of for years and and will be there still waiting for you. It’s something good to think about.
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