Fever Ray (album)

Fever Ray
Studio album by Fever Ray
Released 12 January 2009 (2009-01-12)
Genre Electronic pop[1]
Length 48:05
Label Rabid
Producer Christoffer Berg, Fever Ray, Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid
Singles from Fever Ray
  1. "If I Had a Heart"
    Released: 15 December 2008
  2. "When I Grow Up"
    Released: 30 March 2009
  3. "Triangle Walks"
    Released: 20 July 2009
  4. "Seven"
    Released: 5 October 2009

Fever Ray is the debut solo album by Fever Ray, an alias of Karin Dreijer Andersson of Swedish electronic music duo The Knife. It was originally released on 12 January 2009 in digital formats, followed by a physical release on 18 March 2009. The album produced four singles—"If I Had a Heart", "When I Grow Up", "Triangle Walks" and "Seven". "Stranger Than Kindness" and "Keep the Streets Empty for Me" were released as promotional singles in October and November 2009, respectively.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
The A.V. ClubA−[4]
Robert ChristgauA–[5]
The Guardian[6]
The Independent[7]
NME8/10[8]
The Observer[9]
Pitchfork Media8.1/10[10]
PopMatters9/10[11]
Slant Magazine[12]

Fever Ray was lauded by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 27 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[2] Graeme Thomson of The Observer described the album as "an astonishingly stark record" that is "[b]uilt on the barest of electronic bones and brought to life through Andersson's almost primal vocals, the songs search for a spiritual pulse amid soulless modernity."[9] Ian Mathers of PopMatters stated the album is "not only as good as Silent Shout but [it's also] clearly akin to the sound she and her brother Olof perfected on that record", concluding, "Nothing that Fever Ray does is as immediate or soaring as a track like 'Marble House' but Fever Ray makes up for the lack of highs by being an even more all-enveloping experience than the last few Knife records."[11] Similarly, John Doran of the NME commented that Fever Ray "has none of the immediacy of albums such as The Knife's Silent Shout, with its playful eclecticism and heavier, dancefloor-leaning beats. Most importantly, it doesn't have a killer hit single in the style of 'Heartbeats'", adding that in order to "fully appreciate this beautiful and understated gem, [...] it's important to relinquish all desires for another 'Heartbeats' and enter fully into the world of Fever Ray." Doran also called the album "magnetic and rewarding" and compared it to the likes of Kate Bush, Underworld and Yellow Magic Orchestra.[8]

Pitchfork Media's argued that, in contrast to The Knife's "plasticky percussions and goofy synth sounds", Fever Ray "brims with fragile, more finely articulated sounds" and "moves at roughly the same pace and with the same general tone, rendering some of the songs indistinguishable at first, but committed listens will reveal this to be as nuanced and as rich of a production as anything either Dreijer has done."[10] The A.V. Club's Chris Martins viewed it as being "countless times more claustrophobic and creepy than Silent Shout" and stated that "[t]he vocal transformer is such a huge part of what Andersson does—androgynizing her words to accompany the cold music, mimicking the synth warbles and sustained tones that abound."[4] The Independent critic Rupert Howe expressed, "Even beyond the gothic imagery and glacial electronics, this mesmeric solo project shares much with The Knife's last album Silent Shout", including "surreal lyrics" and "weird vocal treatments which pitch Andersson's voice down to a baleful masculine groan".[7] Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine found that the album is "built upon contrasts. Most notably, Andersson's Fever Ray persona draws attention to her work as half of the Knife [...] Whereas the Knife is ostensibly a dance act, Fever Ray emphasizes tone over rhythm."[12]

Alexander Tudor wrote for Drowned in Sound that "minimal beats on each track prove to have been constructed with incredible attention to detail, as are the smooth synth washes, and electronic simulacra of birdcall or animal noises. The tempo may be nightmarishly unvaried, track after track, but it's composed of glitches [and] bouncing balls", citing "Keep the Streets Empty for Me" as the album's best track.[13] In a review for Allmusic, Heather Phares opined that "Fever Ray's mix of confessional lyrics and chilly, blatantly synthetic and often harsh sounds make this album as successful an electronic singer/songwriter album as Björk's Homogenic." Phares continued, "With almost tangible textures and a striking mood of isolation and singularity, Fever Ray is a truly strange but riveting album."[3] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian felt that the album's "dolorous chords and stately rhythms recall the Cure, circa Faith, the glacial pace makes you think of the Blue Nile", noting that, "as unlikely a step as Fever Ray may seem for one of electronic music's most enigmatic figures, the results are triumphant."[6] BBC Music's Chris Jones called the album "bloody marvellous", while observing "a vague sense of holding pattern here rather than massive innovation. Without brother Olof as a guiding hand on the droning sequencers the tunes fall a bit by the wayside", but wrote that "this very tiny drawback doesn't stop Fever Ray from being the kind of brilliant album that it may not make sense to play if you're prone to nightmares."[14]

Accolades

The Guardian named Fever Ray the second best album of 2009, calling it "[g]lacial, creepy and impish" and commenting, "Between the cavernous synths, the echoes and loops, the polyrhythms and snarling vocal processing, Andersson managed to capture the feeling of being totally alone while also projecting a childlike wonder."[15] It was ranked the second best album of 2009 and twenty-fourth best album of the 2000s decade by Resident Advisor.[16][17] The Sunday Times named Fever Ray the third best album of 2009 by a new artist and wrote that Andersson "responded to motherhood with an album of glacial sonic architecture, its unforgiving expanses conjuring up sleep-deprived mental churning", dubbing it an "electro classic".[18] NME, Drowned in Sound and Pitchfork Media all placed the album at number nine on their respective lists of the Top 50 Albums of 2009,[19][20] with the latter noting that "[w]hat's made Andersson's work even better is how her videos and performances amplify the music's sense of dread and mystery."[21]

The album was listed at number sixteen on PopMatters' The Best 60 Albums of 2009, and the website opined, "Alternately chilly and warm, wistful and foreboding, expansive and claustrophobic, Fever Ray's peculiarity and bleak magnificence holds us in its thrall."[22] Online music service Rhapsody included Fever Ray at number twenty-two on its list of The 25 Best Albums of 2009.[23] Slant Magazine named it the twenty-fourth best album of 2009, stating that Andersson "challenges the conventions of dance music with her distorted vocals and macabre imagery" the album "emerges as an unsettling, impossible-to-shake record that suggests the aftermath of when 'pop' truly bursts".[24] iTunes US named Fever Ray the best electronic album of 2009 as part of the its Rewind 2009 roundup.[25] It was included on Allmusic's Favorite Albums of 2009 and Favorite Electronic Albums of 2009 lists.[26][27]

In 2010, Fever Ray won the P3 Guld award for Dance Artist of the Year, and was nominated for Newcomer of the Year and Pop Artist of the Year.[28] The same year, she won a Manifestgalan for Best Live Artist and received a Beatport Music Award nomination for Best Electronica Artist.[29][30]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Fever Ray, except where noted. 

No. TitleProducer(s) Length
1. "If I Had a Heart"  Fever Ray, Christoffer Berg 3:49
2. "When I Grow Up"  Fever Ray, Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid 4:31
3. "Dry and Dusty"  Fever Ray, Berg 3:45
4. "Seven"  Fever Ray, Berg 5:10
5. "Triangle Walks"  Fever Ray, Berg 4:23
6. "Concrete Walls"  Fever Ray, Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid 5:40
7. "Now's the Only Time I Know"  Fever Ray, Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid 3:59
8. "I'm Not Done"  Fever Ray, Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid 4:20
9. "Keep the Streets Empty for Me" (Fever Ray, Cecilia Nordlund)Fever Ray, Berg 5:40
10. "Coconut"  Fever Ray, Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid 6:48

Deluxe edition

Personnel

Credits for Fever Ray adapted from liner notes.[32]

Charts

Chart (2009–10) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[33] 71
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[34] 11
Belgian Alternative Albums Chart (Flanders)[35] 7
Danish Albums Chart[36] 11
Dutch Albums Chart[37] 80
Finnish Albums Chart[38] 29
Irish Albums Chart[39] 50
Norwegian Albums Chart[40] 9
Swedish Albums Chart[41] 8
UK Albums Chart[42] 90
US Dance/Electronic Albums[43] 8
US Heatseekers Albums[44] 10
US Independent Albums[45] 42

Release history

Region Date Label Format(s) Edition
Australia[46] 12 January 2009 Etcetc Digital download Standard
Germany[47] Cooperative Music
Ireland[48] Rabid Records
Japan[49] Hostess Entertainment
Sweden[50] Rabid Records
United Kingdom[51]
United States[52] 13 January 2009 Mute Records
Sweden[53] 18 March 2009 Rabid Records CD, LP
Australia[54] 20 March 2009 Etcetc CD
United States[55] 24 March 2009 Mute Records CD, LP
Germany[56] 27 March 2009 Cooperative Music CD
Ireland[57] Rabid Records
United Kingdom[58] 30 March 2009 CD, LP
Japan[31] 27 May 2009 Hostess Entertainment CD
Sweden[59] 14 October 2009 Rabid Records CD+DVD, digital download Deluxe
United Kingdom[60] 19 October 2009
Germany[61] 20 November 2009 Cooperative Music
United States[62] 23 November 2009 Mute Records

References

  1. ↑ Roullier, Ian (30 March 2009). "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". musicOMH. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  3. 1 2 Phares, Heather. "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  4. 1 2 Martins, Chris (31 March 2009). "Fever Ray: Fever Ray". The A.V. Club. Onion, Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Christgau, Robert (April 2010). "Consumer Guide". MSN Music. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  6. 1 2 Petridis, Alexis (27 March 2009). "Fever Ray: Fever Ray". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  7. 1 2 Howe, Rupert (7 February 2009). "Album: Fever Ray, Fever Ray (Rabid/V2)". The Independent. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  8. 1 2 Doran, John (26 March 2009). "Album Review: Fever Ray". NME. IPC Media. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  9. 1 2 Thomson, Graeme (15 March 2009). "Electronic review: Fever Ray, Fever Ray". The Observer. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  10. 1 2 Pytlik, Mark (20 March 2009). "Fever Ray: Fever Ray". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  11. 1 2 Mathers, Ian (26 March 2009). "Fever Ray: Fever Ray". PopMatters. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  12. 1 2 Keefe, Jonathan (20 March 2009). "Fever Ray: Fever Ray". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  13. ↑ Tudor, Alexander (13 March 2009). "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  14. ↑ Jones, Chris (20 March 2009). "Review of Fever Ray – Fever Ray". BBC Music. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  15. ↑ Swash, Rosie (18 December 2009). "Albums of 2009, No 2: Fever Ray – Fever Ray". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  16. ↑ "RA Poll: Top 20 albums of 2009". Resident Advisor. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  17. ↑ "RA Poll: Top 100 albums of the '00s". Resident Advisor. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
  18. ↑ Cairns, Dan (6 December 2009). "The top 100 albums of 2009". The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  19. ↑ "50 Best Albums of 2009". NME. IPC Media. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  20. ↑ Adams, Sean (18 December 2009). "Drowned in Sound's Top 50 Albums of 2009". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  21. ↑ "The Top 50 Albums of 2009". Pitchfork Media. 17 December 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  22. ↑ "The Best 60 Albums of 2009". PopMatters. 18 December 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  23. ↑ "The 25 Best Albums of 2009". Rhapsody. 29 December 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  24. ↑ "Best of 2009". Slant Magazine. 13 December 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  25. ↑ Williams, Tim (9 December 2009). "Black Eyed Peas, Kings Of Leon Top iTunes 2009 Charts". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  26. ↑ "AllMusic's Favorite Albums of 2009". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  27. ↑ "AllMusic's Favorite Electronic Albums of 2009". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. 23 December 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  28. ↑ "Alla nominerade och vinnare" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio P3. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  29. ↑ "Vinnare Manifest 2010" (in Swedish). Manifestgalan. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  30. ↑ "Fever Ray nominated for a Beatport award". feverray.com. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  31. 1 2 "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". HMV Japan. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  32. ↑ Fever Ray (CD liner notes). Fever Ray. Rabid Records. 2009. RABID J039.
  33. ↑ "ARIA Top 100 Albums – Week Commencing 30th March 2009" (PDF). ARIA Charts. Pandora Archive. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  34. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  35. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  36. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  37. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  38. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  39. ↑ "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending 2 April 2009". Chart-Track. Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  40. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  41. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  42. ↑ "The Official Charts Company - Fever Ray by Fever Ray Search". The Official Charts Company. 6 May 2013.
  43. ↑ "Fever Ray – Chart history: Dance/Electronic Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  44. ↑ "Fever Ray – Chart history: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  45. ↑ "Fever Ray – Chart history: Independent Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  46. ↑ "Fever Ray by Fever Ray". iTunes Store Australia. Apple Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  47. ↑ "Fever Ray von Fever Ray" (in German). iTunes Store Germany. Apple Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  48. ↑ "Fever Ray by Fever Ray". iTunes Store Ireland. Apple Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  49. ↑ "Fever Ray by Fever Ray" (in Japanese). iTunes Store Japan. Apple Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  50. ↑ "Fever Ray av Fever Ray" (in Swedish). iTunes Store Sweden. Apple Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  51. ↑ "Fever Ray by Fever Ray". iTunes Store UK. Apple Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  52. ↑ "Fever Ray by Fever Ray". iTunes Store US. Apple Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  53. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray" (in Swedish). CDON.se. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  54. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  55. ↑ "Fever Ray: Fever Ray". Amazon.com. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  56. ↑ "Fever Ray: Fever Ray" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  57. ↑ "Fever Ray – Fever Ray". Tower Records Ireland. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  58. ↑ "Fever Ray: Fever Ray". HMV. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  59. ↑ "Fever Ray – Deluxe Edition (CD+DVD) – Fever Ray" (in Swedish). CDON.se. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  60. ↑ "Fever Ray: Fever Ray: Special Edition: Includes Dvd". HMV. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  61. ↑ "Fever Ray (Special Edition): Fever Ray" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  62. ↑ "Fever Ray (2CD/DVD) [Deluxe Edition]: Fever Ray". Amazon.com. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
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