James Reed, The Knife, ‘Shaking the Habitual’ (2013)

James Reed, The Knife, ‘Shaking the Habitual’, The Boston Globe, April 9 2013

Calling “Shaking the Habitual” an album sells it short. The latest from the Swedish electronic duo the Knife, it’s more along the lines of an installation piece you’d find at a gallery, a knotty tangle of polyrhythms, distorted vocals, and heady influences ranging from French philosopher Michel Foucault to gender studies. It’s pop music that belongs under glass: Look, but don’t touch.

It’s the kind of record that is so self-possessed and primal, it nearly steamrolls the listener. Thirteen songs give way to 98 minutes and address everything from sexuality to the evils of capitalism and political corruption. Oh, and there’s a song called “Fracking Fluid Injection” full of fractured and oscillating vocals. (Let that be the line in the sand.)

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Review from the Orlando Weekly
When a band’s first-ever double album finds its namesake in a quote from philosopher Michel Foucault about re-evaluating conventional thinking, has its longest song clocking in at 19 minutes and has an overall runtime close to 100 minutes, you can expect a sort of marathon listening experience. After a four-year hiatus, the long-lost – but not forgotten – Swedish duo the Knife returned this year with a proper new album, Shaking the Habitual.

Also… a review of a London concert by the band