The Knife
Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA
November 3, 2006

I was introduced to Swedish brother-and-sister electro-pop duo the Knife a while back in the form of their 2003 album Deep Cuts. An interesting techno pastiche, highlighted by the pair's penchant for exotic and somewhat disturbing costumes, i enjoyed the work but didn't dote on it persay. Then one day this past January i happened upon their newly released third album Silent Shout, and was dumbstruck. While maintaining synthesizers and effects as their vehicle, the Knife had graduated to a much darker and unsettling sound with fantastic results. Therefore when i learned the pair were giving their first Bay Area performance at Mezzanine, V and i scoured all available channels for spare tickets to the sold out show, finally securing two at an average price of $80 apiece (four times the face value). We arrived at the venue, typically a dance club but poorly retrofitted with a stage to make it amenable to concerts, five minutes before the 10pm start. As with our previous visit on New Year's Eve, the place was packed and we had a rough time navigating through the masses to find a reasonable vantage point. We went upstairs, but couldn't find any decent spots and decided to head back downstairs. At this moment the lights dimmed and the crowd braced for the show's start, which naturally meant two oblivious girls decided the top of the stairs would be a great place to stand. V made it by, but i was left with my path blocked. Peeved, i waited 15 seconds or so before grabbing one by the waist and throwing her out of the way. I'm not one to be triffled with in crowd situations.

Returning downstairs, V worked us into a niche to the left of the stage, only 10 or 15 feet from the performers. As the techno wash of the opening number came across the speakers, i was a bit perplexed as to what i was supposed to be looking at. There was a thin translucent screen surrounding the stage, with a projector displaying a series of images on it. Where were Olof and Karin? A few minutes later, i realized they were there on stage all along ... in black jumpsuits, almost invisible in the sparsely lit club. What was visible in the black light was the orange day-glo makeup on their faces, which could be seen only on their eyes, mouth, and ears through their black ski masks. Creepy as hell. Olof was closest to us, playing a synthesizer and occasionally wielding orange glowing drumsticks to play drum machines. Karin was opposite, bearing more elaborate devilish makeup that could be observed when the lights occasionally fell upon her. No words were spoken other than the digitized, pitch-shifted wails of the lyrics. The set included both the bouncier, more techno-oriented tracks from Deep Cuts as well as the ominous compositions of Silent Shout. The performance was as much visual as it was aural, between the duo's outfits and the array of videos projected around the club. Midway through the set i noticed a white orb above my head, on which was projected video of a man's face, distorted and disturbing. Similar faces were projected on the side of the stage during the brilliant title track of Silent Shout, albeit even more skewed and frightening.

The set ended after 50 minutes, with the pair reemerging in new frog-like masks for a few more upbeat songs. At their final departure, i was shaken by the brilliance of the performance as well as by its raw, dark nature, suggestive of the loneliness, isolation, and evil leanings of the human soul. The Knife are undoubtedly descendants of earlier dark electro/techno outfits like Aphex Twin and Future Sound of London, but evolve that sound into an otherworldly symphony that is matched by a bizarre array of images, making Olof and Karin Dreijer pioneers of the new electro.

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