Noise du Jour: “If I Had a Heart” by Fever Ray
Posted by Qais Fulton
Karin Dreijer Anderson — the feminine half of the Swedish duo The Knife — recently released this video of a track from the first album of her solo project, Fever Ray. The song itself is simply wonderful, and fits in perfectly among the motley crew of heartbeat basslines and organic melody with which I’m currently obsessed. But it’s when the soothing susurrations and plodding oscillations of the song are combined with the images of a pre-pubescent post-apocalypse that the feeling of some culmination begins to set in.
Granted, the idea of a world in which everyone over the age of innocence is stricken down has appealed to me since I was old enough to understand the implications of a life free from the baggage of antecedent eras. Imagine it, with one fell swoop the slate is wiped clean, and the psychological plagues passed from generation to generation like genetic memory of , aren’t simply abandoned, but forgotten entirely. The concept is, of course, not without its flaws; as evidenced by the mounds of media in which children are left to their own devices, and thus to their own injury. But on the surface it’s a wonderful idea, this ultimate infantile do-over; Karin Dreijer Anderson obviously “gets it”, and provides the perfect soundtrack for your musings to boot.
If I Had a Heart [Pitchfork TV : Pitchfork Media : Fever Ray] Thanks, Furniss!
Categories: Apocalypse, Children, Noise du Jour, Post Apocalyptic, Sickness
Posted at 5:38 pm on January 13, 2009
9 Comments -
There’s no part of this that I don’t love.
That baseline combined with all the tribal imagery just… made sense, y’know?
Comment by AfraiD — January 13, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
Oh very, very awesome.
Comment by annemjw — January 14, 2009 @ 12:07 am
What a beautiful idea… speaking as someone recently assaulted by tentacles, it does feels good to have the sickness torn out of you even if its a little scary at first to realize something strange is going on.
Also, time blurs into a mobius, which is always sort of nice. Good to be out of that tho. Its hard to make plans for lunch with friends when you’re a gibbering tesseract XD
nice music, I had heard the song but not seen the video, the video puts a whole heap of fresh awesome all over it.
Comment by Porkshanks — January 14, 2009 @ 5:39 am
Ooooooh! C’est magnifique! Thanks so much for sharing, Quais! Added it to my “(Short) Film Noir” collection here.
Comment by Suzanne — January 14, 2009 @ 6:54 am
Even as a spooky voodoo skull I’d still hit it.
Just sayin…
Comment by jackdorf — January 14, 2009 @ 1:29 pm
But who will sweep up all the dead corpses?
Comment by Optical — January 14, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
awesome…
can’t get it out of my head.
thanks ^.^
Comment by _kii_ — January 14, 2009 @ 7:54 pm
this reminds me of everything i like in the knife’s remix of stina nordenstam’s ‘Parliament Square’. i was hoping for more of such beauty.
Comment by jen — January 16, 2009 @ 5:39 am
the
repeating
wont
leave
my
head
alone
aaagh.
Comment by ITHIDET — January 18, 2009 @ 11:31 pm