One of Sweden's most reclusive artists just got less reclusive. The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson has announced a solo project, dubbed Fever Ray, with a debut album promised for next spring.
It's two years since the Knife released Silent Shout, rocketing the duo to the top of hip lists and paving the way for Burial and other spooky, "haunted house" artists. The Knife were unlikely stars, hiding behind masks and rarely conceding to interviews.
When one of their songs, Heartbeats, truly hit the big-time, it certainly wasn't because they had offered to play on Top of the Pops. Instead, Jose Gonzalez's acoustic cover lit up 10m Sony Bravia adverts.
Fever Ray's debut album will be released in the UK on March 23 through Cooperative Music, with a single to precede it next week. If I Had a Heart boasts "a stirring mantra, a boundless loop, a deep sleep spreading over fields and endless oceans", if the press release is to be believed.
"I had so many songs to record that I just had to make an album," Andersson said, not exactly effervescent. "My aim was to finish the album and now that it's done I'm a bit restless."
Prior to her success with the Knife, Andersson fronted Honey Is Cool, an unconventionally named, conventional-sounding indie rock band. Under that guise, she didn't hide behind masks – she simply rocked out. Then again, she probably didn't describe the music as "a deep sleep", either.
