Fever Ray – Plunge (Rabid/Mute, 2017)
Plunge sees Karin Elisabeth Dreijer stretching the contours of her elastic voice in unpredictable ways. More than in her past efforts with The Knife, there is something aggressively experimental, perplexing and equally thrilling that bubbles underneath these electro-pop tunes. Her voice no longer depends on the alien pitch-shifting she established with The Knife; instead, she utilizes her affinity for transporting dissonant dance sounds into bulletproof, club-ready pop. Her voice burns like fire as it explores the electrifying and varied field of electronic music that defines her stylistic palette. With the romping rave jolt of “Wanna Sip” and the sharp violin screeches in “Red Trail,” Plunge is an uptempo mesh of shimmering sounds that crushes notions of classification. More fundamentally, it exemplifies a continuation of the chilling, progressive and cutting-edge pop The Knife achieved on their 2006 opus, Silent Shout. And, on this recent effort, Dreijer is profoundly and unabashedly herself.
Rating: 8.2/10
Trial Track: “Wanna Sip”