FEVER RAY at Kool Haus (132 Queens Quay East), Friday (October 2), doors 8 pm. $34. rotate.com.
Karin Elisabeth Dreijer Andersson is unwavering in her creativity. Whether she’s composing mind-bending pop music as one half of the Knife, dropping guest vocals for electric-relaxation wizards Röyksopp, running Rabid Records alongside Frau Rabid and brother (and The Knife alum) Olof Dreijer or – as of late – striking out on her own under the critically adored solo project known as Fever Ray, Andersson attacks each project with an eccentricity that seems to grow her cult following exponentially with every instalment.
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“I was listening to a lot of black metal [while creating this album],” she says from her New York hotel room, “a lot of Entombed.”
Andersson’s possessed, unnerving trill was tempered by tracks like The Knife’s Like You Make Me Like Charity in 2003, though she is quick to highlight the cold beauty in Fever Ray’s content.
“There’s a lot of brightness and hope here,” she says of 2009’s self-titled debut, Fever Ray (Rabid). More minimal than her past works, it retains that familiar anxious feeling but it is now coated in a grimy patina more reflective of her onstage personality, which is almost supernatural in presentation.
“The masks and costumes I wear onstage create a good environment for the music,” says Andersson. “It’s very theatrical.”
Interview Clips
Fever Ray talks about her vocal technique:
On how she balances music and her family life:
music@nowtoronto.com
