The Knife: Shaking the Habitual - review

Brave, possibly foolhardy, definitely brilliant, Shaking the Habitual overhauls the Swedish duo’s electronic language with an epic set that revels in transgression: social, sexual, political, musical.

With sonic backdrops that explore eye-watering dissonance, terrifying labyrinthine ambience and intricately tuned polyrhythms, there’s little comfort gained in Karin Dreijer Andersson’s bizarre inter-gender vocals, which are stretched out of shape and reconfigured in all manner of character parts.

It’s a provocative work that will attract as many plaudits as it does casual dismissals, but in a world smitten by pastiche, it’s brazenly new.