the knife and jolie holland

new music for a.raw: jolie holland's springtime can kill you and the knife's silent shout.

i'm a die-hard fan of holland's last album, escondida, all its alt-country infused with 1920s blues. her bizarre open vowels flatten me against a wall, heart strained against ribs. and she intones her lyrics well.

do you have to go crazy? is that the best thing that you can think to do? i know i'm lost without a place to go crazy; i know there's a sunrise on the other side to pull me through. -- "do you", escondida

springtime can kill you's heavier on the country, stronger on maturity, and subtler with play, so it's taking me awhile to slip into this album as a result. give me a dark room and and some sweet almond oil; i'll get back to you on springtime. (sample tracks online for your audio pleasure.)

as for the knife, consider me eternally under the spell. karin dreijer bewitched me the first time i heard her violently happy vocals as part of her former band, honey is cool. i've espoused previously the seventeen virtues of honey is cool, so i won't ramble again but will instead direct you to my ancient, wee attempt at a fansite (several years old, oh nostalgia).

i put a snailshell in your last mouthful. you buy a horse and the horse wants to lick you! you've got it all. -- honey is cool

post-honey is cool, karin's worked with her brother, olof, on the knife. their quirky self-titled debut exploded with ramped-up 80s casio keyboard blips and beats, and i swiftly fell in love. those lyrics!!! that voice!!!

charlotta making lasagna with me above the clouds... but you could have waited; you could have locked yourself up for ten years or so... -- "neon," the knife

the knife lost me a bit with its poppy deep cuts, but they've reined me in with their third album, silent shout (which you can listen to online so what are you waiting for?). karin and olof weave life into their electronica. who knew creepiness could be so energetic?

she said my favourite book was dirty and "you should not show you can read." -- from "forest families," silent shout