The Knife have been uncharacteristically forthcoming in recent months: dropping the masks, giving long-ranging interviews, “explaining” their intentions in a manifesto.
Today, they released “The Interview,” a short film by Marit Östberg (who also directed the “Full of Fire” video), in which they lay out their intentions with new album Shaking the Habitual a little more literally than they did in that manifesto. The first, gauntlet-throwing claim– “What we do is political. That should be impossible to misunderstand.” –shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone familiar with the band’s back catalogue; take a look at the lyrics to “The Cop,” “Hangin’ Out,” “One Hit,” or “Neverland” if you don’t believe me. Still, it underscores that the band is more interested in message than mystique this time around, and the members follow through, going on to examine their own privilege, rail against a “hierarchical” music industry, and call for the end of the nuclear family.
This being The Knife, however, “The Interview” isn’t actually an interview, per se. Interspersed with clips of band members Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer speaking in tandem are brief visual impressions, courtesy of Östberg, that serve to immerse the viewer in a way that ordinary Q and A’s don’t
“It’s time to move,” they conclude. “To fall. To fly.”
