fever ray tour australia

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Sun 9 June — 10 June

Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne

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For the first time in Australia, Fever Ray opens the iron gates and ushers us into their gothic synth-pop odyssey.

"They perform to create an entire new world with sound and atmosphere. It’s almost alien, but welcoming to those willing to immerse themselves in the experience” — Parklife DC

One half of electronic duo The Knife, Karin Dreijer took their hypnotic vocals solo with Fever Ray, and for the first time in 15 years, they're finally coming to Melbourne on their first Australian tour.

Seven years on from Plunge , when the Swedish synth-pop enigma was “looking for a girl who stands 10 feet tall and has teeth like razors”, now they just want to ‘Shiver’ . On 2023’s Radical Romantics , they’re older, a little wiser, and on a dig towards a second adolescence. The new phase heralds industrial tape hiss, stadium-sized trance and much-anticipated collaborations with brother and former Knife bandmate Olof Dreijer. The live show is gender-queer world-building fed through a singular, gothic vision. Pitch-shifted vocals skate knotted grooves and glacial mountains of synth. It’s an icebox with fun-house mirror walls. It’s pure Fever Ray.

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SHOUSE : Communitas

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Maryam Nikindish and Helena Gutara

Romarna Campbell

Mikaela Hansson

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Presented with Arts Centre Melbourne

Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne

From the spectral synth beats of The Knife to the shapeshifting pop soundscapes of their solo work, Swedish avant garde alchemist Karin Dreijer – aka...

Fever Ray | Vivid LIVE

Bennelong Point 2000 NSW Australia

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From the spectral synth beats of The Knife to the shapeshifting pop soundscapes of their solo work, Swedish avant garde alchemist Karin Dreijer – aka Fever Ray – has carved a singular, uncompromising path through 21st century electronic music. Now, after two decades of wildly ambitious techno pop, the acclaimed artist is set to make their long awaited Australian debut, performing two shows in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall for Vivid LIVE.

With their mysterious masked image and a voice that seemed to summon the realms of the supernatural, Fever Ray exploded onto the music scene as one half of Swedish electronic pioneers The Knife, the experimental dance duo they co-founded with their brother Olof Dreijer in 1999. After the group’s wildly successful third album, Silent Shout – named by Pitchfork as the best album of 2006 – Fever Ray released their 2009 self-titled debut, a modern masterpiece of haunting, left-field electro pop that yielded the hits 'If I Had A Heart' and 'Keep the Streets Empty for Me'. It was followed by 2017’s transformative Plunge , which found Dreijer embracing their newfound queer identity through a set of irresistibly sensual, alien pop songs — including 'To the Moon and Back', 'Wanna Sip' and the Björk collaboration 'This Country' – that sounded unlike anything on the music landscape. Last year, Fever Ray returned with Radical Romantics , featuring co-production from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and Dreijer’s brother Olof. Continuing Fever Ray’s radical exploration of identity and desire, the record – featuring such left-field pop gems as 'Kandy', 'What They Call Us' and 'Carbon Dioxide' – was hailed by many critics as their finest work to date.

An unparalleled visual artist who brings their avant-garde sensibilities to the stage, Fever Ray is set to deliver a live performance every bit as exhilarating as their music.

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Melbourne's RISING Festival lock in Dirty Three, Fever Ray, Yasiin Bey for 2024 line-up

M elbourne's RISING festival has this morning announced its full program, offering the people of Melbourne and its visitors a cavalcade of culture as the days get shorter and the weather gets frostier.

There is of course a mammoth music program as part of its line-up yet again this year, with a fascinating mix of international gems and homegrown heroes set to enrich our lives with their fearless creativity this June.

Here's who you can expect to see at RISING this year.

Yasiin Bey , who you might know better by his previous name Mos Def, will play two shows as part of RISING this year. Firstly, he'll headline a big show at the Port Melbourne Industrial Centre for the Arts, where he'll play his 2009 classic The Ecstatic in its entirety.

He'll then play a second show as part of the Day Tripper event, where he'll pay tribute to his dear friend MF DOOM.

Dirty Three haven't played a headline show in Melbourne in 12 years. They'll rectify that with two nights at Hamer Hall, which will see the band lock in for two shows that will no doubt show their transcendent power has not dulled in their time away.

They're Australian music royalty and seeing them in a space as lavish and beautiful as Hamer Hall will remind us all how far we've all come since they were regulars in some of the stickiest venues in town.

Fever Ray – the performing moniker of Swedish musician Karin Dreijer – will finally visit Australia as part of RISING this year. Dreijer never toured here with their old band The Knife and has never brought their Fever Ray project here either.

Mt Druitt's ONEFOUR haven't had the same opportunities to showcase their skills on the live stage as many other artists. If you've been gripped by their Australian take on drill, or even just the documentary that plotted their journey so far, you won't want to miss this chance to see them.

They'll play a massive show at Festival Hall as a part of the RISING program, their first ever headline show in Melbourne.

The incredible Arthur Verocai has been making music for well over half a century. But it's been through samples from the likes of MF Doom, Ludacris, and Common that the 79-year-old Brazilian composer has attained a newfound popularity among younger audiences.

Recently, Verocai worked with Naarm's own Hiatus Kaiyote, bringing his genius to the brilliant 'Get Sun' from their most recent LP Mood Valiant . He'll play the Melbourne Recital Centre for RISING, with a 30-piece orchestra helping bring his brilliant and beautiful compositions to life.

Over at the Forum, there'll be a program of boundary-pushing modern artists from across various genres.

A Sky Ferreira live show is a fairly rare treat these days, and given it's been a decade since her one and only Australian visit, there will be many fans eager for their chance to experience her gripping modern pop in the flesh.

Swedish soul sensation Snoh Aalegra makes her first visit to Australia on the tail of a string of incredible singles she released last year.

The intense and brilliant Yves Tumor visits Australia for the first time for RISING, riding high from the release of last year's excellently grungey Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) album.

British singer-songwriter Tirzah has been one of the most charming new leftfield pop acts of the past decade. Her first Australian visit will come as pleasing news to fans who perhaps doubted whether we'd ever have the chance to see one of her relatively rare performances.

Melbourne's Town Hall is another key venue in the festival's music program this year.

Malian desert blues icons Tinariwen took a delightful if unexpected turn on last year's Amatssou album, bringing elements of Americana and country music into their blissful, droney, hypnotic brand of rock'n'roll. They will blow the roof of Melbourne Town Hall when they return to Australia for RISING, proving once again why they're one of the planet's most formidable rock bands.

Indie rock royalty Blonde Redhead will also drop by town hall while here for RISING, reaching back into the unreal catalogue they've amassed in their 30 years as a band. Last September saw them release Sit Down For Dinner , their first album in almost a decade, which proved they remain one of the best indie rock bands around.

Local lad Moktar is also booked in for a Town Hall show, bringing with him a massive show packed with special guests and other exciting surprises.

There are various other musical events dotted around RISING's enormous program.

You can catch English producer to the stars Evian Christ at Max Watts. See Roddy Bottum's Man On Man in a tribute to Shannon Michael Caine. Party in the disused shops and abandoned alleyways as part of the Day Tripper event, and learn what inclusive partying really looks like at CRIP RAVE THEORY .

In case you missed it earlier, SHOUSE lead a mammoth performance at St Paul's Cathedral, called Communitas, where the barrier between audience and performer will not exist – we're all part of the show.

Then there's Jeremy Deller's Acid Brass , the brass band/acid house combination you didn't know you needed, coming to the streets of the Melbourne CBD to make sure everyone can catch the good vibes.

RISING happens across Melbourne from Saturday 1 June to Sunday 16. Tickets are on sale from 12pm Thursday 14 March.

Here's the music highlights from the line-up:

Yasiin Bey , The Dirty Three , Fever Ray , OneFour , Arthur Verocai , Sky Ferreira , Yves Tumor , Tirzah , Blonde Redhead , Snoh Aalegra , Tinariwen , Evian Christ , Moktar and Friends , SHOUSE , Stereogamous , Man On Man , HTRK , Asha Puthli , JLIN , Bar Italia , Hieroglyphic Being and Robin Fox , Acid Brass and more.

Hit the RISING website for more detailed info.

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When Fever Ray released her self titled debut album, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it, hoping it would be similar to her music with her brother in The Knife. I was not disappointed. Her distinctive raspy tone was powerful as ever, with the electronic influences ever present.

Throughout the performance, Fever Ray used masks, face paint, and body paint, which she swapped between regularly. She entered the stage and took her position behind what appeared to be some sort of screen, partially blurring her and disguising her costumes. As the music began, she slowly raised her arms, and the audience erupted into cheers, as she went straight into one of her most famous tracks 'When I Grow Up.' The electronic entrancing music is even more powerful live and seems to surround you from every direction. Seeing her perform live really gave me another dimension in which to appreciate her music, listening to recorded copies alongside watching television episodes she has composed for is really nothing in comparison to a huge live performance.

Throughout the performance, she would occasionally appear in front of the screen, before retreating behind the wall of fabric. The theatricality only added to the performance, making it visually as well as musically exciting , combining multiple art forms to create a wonderful all rounded experience for the audience. You really will find a new way to connect with the music, and have a great experience watching Fever Ray live.

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Ooo my god that was a really shittt. I left after 30 min. Horrible sounding. Barely I recognized what song I'm listening. I love Fever Ray music but that was not acceptable, horrible yip. Never again Fever Ray live and never again Troxy.

The show was amazing and full of energy! This was my first time seeing Fever Ray and it will not be my last. They sound just as amazing in real life as they do on vinyl. Definitely a must-see!

The new phase of Fever Ray is funny and sexy. She and her girls are pure energy.

The place has good acoustic, people was cheerful and everyone was dancing!

Remarkable show!

Simply brilliant. What a show! You won’t be disappointed. Dancers, a superb concept, a light show, and of course the music, that sounds like the soundtrack to Armageddon. In a good way.

The show was just beautiful and a very collective performance. I had a very strong feeling that love and respect is everywhere on stage, and embody a real power. A female power actually.

Present, intense, seductive. Fever Ray put on a great show. Amazing scene and the lights was spectacular and performance Perfect. I give the koncert 10/10. Thanks for a phat party!

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Fever Ray is not due to play near your location currently - but they are scheduled to play 4 concerts across 2 countries in 2024-2025. View all concerts.

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Fever Ray announces 2023 world tour

The thereʼs no place iʼd rather be tour marks the first fever ray shows since 2018.

Fever Ray has announced details of the Thereʼs No Place Iʼd Rather Be Tour, their first live shows in over four years. Karin Dreijer will follow the release of new album Radical Romantics with a series of shows across North America and Europe, including dates in New York and Oakland, California next year. Tickets are available from Friday, November 18. Scroll down for date and venue details.

Radical Romantics will be released on March 10, 2023. The first single "What They Call Us" was released last month with "Carbon Dioxide" arriving soon after. It will be the first new Fever Ray album in over five years, following their self-titled 2009 record and their 2017 sophomore LP, Plunge .

Read Next: Fever Ray shares “Shiver” video

Collaborators on the project will include Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Vessel, and Nídia. Dreijer’s brother and former The Knife bandmate, Olof Dreijer, also co-produced and co-wrote four of the songs on Radical Romantics , which is the first time the siblings have made music together in eight years.

Fever Ray Tour Dates:

March 23 - Oslo, NE - Sentrum Scene March 24 - Copenhagen, DK - VEGA March 25 - Gothenburg, SE - GBG Film Studios March 27 - Riga, LV - Hanzas Perons March 28 - Tallinn, EE - Noblessner Foundry March 30 - Warsaw, PL - World Wide Warsaw Festival April 1 - Amsterdam, NE - Melkweg April 3 - Brussels, BE - Cirque Royal April 4 - Cologne, DE - E-Werk April 6 - Luxembourg City, LU - Den Atelier April 7 - The Hague, NE - Rewire Festival May 3 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 May 5 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner May 7 - Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed May 10 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater

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Fever Ray Announces 2023 Tour

By Quinn Moreland

Fever Ray has announced a 2023 tour. The trek—called the There’s No Place I’d Rather Be Tour—marks Karin Dreijer’s first shows since 2018. The news follows the announcement of Fever Ray’s upcoming album, Radical Romantics , which is out March 10 via Mute . Two tracks from that album, “ What They Call Us ” and “ Carbon Dioxide ,” have been shared so far. Check out a list of European and North American dates below.

Radical Romantics is Karin Dreijer’s third album as Fever Ray and the first since 2017’s Plunge . Since then, Dreijer has released a live album and a remix album of its tracks.

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

03-23 Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene 03-24 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega 03-25 Gothenburg, Sweden - GBG Film Studios 03-27 Riga, Latvia - Hanzas Perons 03-28 Tallinn, Estonia - Noblessner Foundry 03-30 Warsaw, Poland - World Wide Warsaw Festival Sat. 04-01 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg 04-03 Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal 04-04 Cologne, Germany - E-Werk 04-06 Luxembourg City, Luxembourg - Den Atelier 04-07 The Hague, Netherlands - Rewire Festival 05-03 New York, NY - Terminal 5 05-05 Boston, MA - Roadrunner 05-07 Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed 05-10 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater

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• Air play Moon Safari

Australian Exclusive 25 – 26 May 2024

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Marking their era-defining debut album  Moon Safari , French pop duo Air return to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall to play the classic album for the first time live in its entirety.

$8.95 booking fee applies per transaction

Prices correct at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Exact prices will be displayed with seat selection.

The only authorised ticket agency for this event is  Sydney Opera House . For more information about Authorised Agencies, see the frequently asked questions below.

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The duration of this event is approximately 80 minutes.

Event duration is a guide only and may be subject to change.

Suitable for all ages, recommended for ages 15+

Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times.

The Opera House is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children that visit or engage with us. Read our  Child Safety Policy . 

A rich, layered, flirty opus of retro-futuristic makeout music. Moon Safari  remains the cornerstone of their legacy. Stereogum

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Covid-safe information, frequently asked questions, french space pop wizards recreate their voyage to the moon.

Twenty-five years ago, a pair of young French musicians set out on a journey through the pop cosmos – and came back with a romantic masterpiece. Melding lush electronics, swooning songcraft and irresistible European retro-futurism, Moon Safari contained a universe that continues to lure in listeners with its gorgeous, starry-eyed sonic wonder. Now, to celebrate the album’s 25th  anniversary, Air return to Vivid LIVE to play their iconic debut for the first time in its entirety, immersing the Sydney Opera House in their singular soundscape across three performances in the Concert Hall.

Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel were university kids studying astrophysics and architecture when they combined their musical talents to form Air in the mid-’90s. Released in January 1998, their full-length debut Moon Safari became a pop culture sensation, selling millions of copies and launching the inescapable hits “Sexy Boy”, “Kelly Watch the Stars” and “All I Need”. It would become a defining soundtrack of the era, transfixing the likes of David Bowie, Beck and Madonna, and influencing such artists as Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Charlotte Gainsbourg and filmmaker Sofia Coppola – with whom Air would soon collaborate on music for The Virgin Suicides . The record topped the year-end lists of numerous publications, and was named one of the greatest albums of the ’90s by Rolling Stone . Twenty years on, Moon Safari has lost none of its beguiling magic; it’s a mood that invites you to lose yourself in the music forever.

After their sensational shows at Vivid LIVE in 2017, Air are ready to take us to the moon for a once-in-a-lifetime performance.

Presented by Sydney Opera House

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• Barney Kato presents Alien feat. Radioactive Man (UK), Mark N, au4r33y & Magda Bytnerowicz
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Our foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.

All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres in the Western Foyer.

Visitors and ticketholders are strongly encouraged to plan ahead and allow extra travel time and use public transport whenever possible when arriving for an event or performance. Large crowds are expected on the Opera House precinct and around the CBD, and road closures may be in place.

For further information, please visit Transport NSW’s Vivid Sydney page.

The Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay precincts are very popular and attract large crowds during Vivid Sydney. Visitors are strongly encouraged to leave the car at home and use public transport wherever possible. During this time, there will be changes to transport timetables so allow extra travel time. 

Visit Transport NSW’s Vivid Sydney page for more details on service changes

There will be a range of road closures in the Sydney CBD during Vivid Sydney. For detailed information on road closures during Vivid Sydney, please visit Live Traffic NSW.

The Sydney Opera House car park will be open every evening during Vivid Sydney, however it is expected to reach capacity early. Patrons are encouraged to use public transport wherever possible and allow extra travel time.

Please note that if you drive and arrive early for parking, you may not be able to exit if there are road closures in place. For detailed information on road closures during Vivid Sydney, please visit  Live Traffic NSW .

The health and wellbeing of everyone attending the Opera House is our top priority. We’re committed to making your experience safe, comfortable and enjoyable, with a number of measures in place including regular cleaning of high-touch areas, air conditioning systems that maximise ventilation, and hand sanitiser stations positioned in all paths of travel. We remind our audiences and visitors to please stay home if you feel unwell. If you need to discuss your ticketing or booking options, contact our Box Office team on 02 9250 7777.

The health and wellbeing of everyone attending the Opera House is our top priority. We have a number of safety measures in place including regular cleaning of high-touch areas, air conditioning systems that maximise ventilation, and hand sanitiser stations positioned in all paths of travel. While face masks are no longer required, we ask all our patrons and visitors to practise good hygiene. Please stay home if you feel unwell and read more about our flexible ticket options .

The Sydney Opera House no longer requires patrons to show that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Lighting of the Sails during Vivid Sydney is a free event. You do not need a ticket to view the incredible animations by Julia Gutman on the Sails every night from 24 May – 15 June.

If you are attending a performance as part of the Vivid LIVE program, a valid ticket is required. It’s highly recommended that you purchase tickets in advance.

It is highly recommended to purchase tickets in advance, as tickets may not be available at the door. 

As a condition of entry, bag inspections and electronic screening will be carried out at the entry to the site. Please follow the directions of Opera House staff and security.

Please travel lightly and do not bring items that require cloaking e.g. handbags bigger than A4-size, backpacks and umbrellas, which are not permitted inside our venues.

The following items are prohibited:

• BYO alcohol
• Glass beverage containers
• Professional cameras or recording devices
• Laser pointers or selfie sticks
• Illegal substances including controlled, dangerous or illicit drugs
• Offensive signage or clothing

For further information about items that are prohibited on site can be found in our  Conditions of Entry .

Yes, cloaking will remain available but it is strongly encouraged that you travel lightly and leave large, bulky items at home. Cloakroom attendants will use disposable paper tickets to keep track of your items.

The Sydney Opera House is a smoke-free site. Read our  Smoke-free Environment Policy .

For patrons who are blind or have low vision, the Opera House will be hosting some audio-described sessions of this year’s images projected onto the sails, with specific dates to be announced soon. For more information please visit the event page.

A complimentary shuttle bus and buggy service will be in operation during Vivid Sydney. Please contact the Box Office to confirm operating hours on 02 9250 7777.

Gig Buddies, an organisation that pairs adults with intellectual disability with volunteers to attend social events have been offered to attend some events at Vivid LIVE. For more information contact  [email protected] .

Ticketholders are welcome to bring their own water bottle (as long as it isn’t made of glass) but no other food and drinks are permitted inside our venues. BYO alcohol is strictly prohibited from the Opera House.

The Opera House has a range of onsite bars and restaurants which are perfect for a pre-show drink, quick snack or sit-down meal.

Cashless payment methods are strongly recommended. Please bring a credit or debit card for any on-site purchases to assist with swift transactions.

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Grammy-nominated UK electronic music legends Underworld return to Vivid LIVE for two pulse-pounding euphoric nights in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

Tastemakers Astral People return to Vivid LIVE with a huge night of music exploring the sounds from the South Asian diaspora, featuring genre-spanning superstar Sid Sriram and the Australian debuts of Priya Ragu and Raf-Saperra.

Making their long-awaited Australian debut, visionary Swedish iconoclast – and co-founder of The Knife – Fever Ray brings their electrifying, radically romantic synth pop to Vivid LIVE.

Checking availability

Fever Ray’s Karin Dreijer on romance, ageing and kink: ‘There is always the dangerous route’

The Knife co-founder’s third solo album finds them swapping edge for the ‘peaceful sadness’ of age – a new shade of nonconformism for a musician famed for their socialist, genderqueer politics

A recommendation from Oprah is enough to launch any book into the bestsellers list, but it still can’t explain why one 1999 work of Black feminist thought has recently become the designated emotional handbook of the heartbroken. If you’ve not read All About Love by bell hooks , you’ve probably had it recommended to you – or at least seen extracts on Instagram accounts like @savedbythebellhooks , where stills from the 90s teen show Saved By the Bell are matched with lengthy quotes on patriarchal masculinity and revolutionary struggle.

The book offers very useful definitions of love, Karin Dreijer is explaining. More than just the emotional goo that fills our private lives, love can be a political force. “It’s an action, it’s a verb, it’s something that we do,” the Swedish singer and producer says. But loving each other “requires time – and it’s hard to find the time that it takes to have good relationships within our capitalist system”.

We’re talking about hooks because Dreijer’s new album as Fever Ray is also about love, and because the theory-inclined pop artist likes to do the reading before tackling a new subject – especially one this familiar.

While none of the high-contrast synthpop of Radical Romantics is likely to crack Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs, Dreijer’s third solo album comes straight from the heart, landing tender as a bruise.

On my screen Dreijer is a pale, still figure, sporting a platinum crop and a hoodie emblazoned with the word PSYCHIC. They pause for long stretches to locate the right word. “To be able to love,” they continue, “you have to find out about yourself and what your own needs are, and you have to accept them, which can be super difficult. With that comes a sort of sadness, which I think is much more present [on this album]. But it’s not like a devastating sadness – I think it’s a very peaceful and calm sadness that shows here and there.”

A new Fever Ray album is a rare occurrence. After splitting off from the Knife , the political electro-pop vehicle formed with their brother Olof Dreijer, Fever Ray’s landmark 2009 solo debut explored the frustrations of motherhood via banks of frozen drones and memorably odd lyrics about plant care and kitchen sinks. Its follow-up took eight years: in 2017, Plunge honked the horn for Dreijer’s queer sexual epiphany with a stack of jittery dance tracks and explicit lyrics. Plunge was “more urgent,” says Dreijer, “like, ‘This needs to come out now!’ ”

The pandemic provided Dreijer with a different headspace for their third album, Radical Romantics. “I realised that I haven’t been so good with patience. That is something I really have had time to practise during the last years, to be still with a feeling. Some things,” they announce in mock revelation, “will work out by themselves without you having to do so much about it.”

Dreijer has previously flown a flag for socialist, feminist and genderqueer politics through the use of pitch-shifted vocals, elaborate masks, queer drag and demands for “free abortions”. An album about love might seem a bit pedestrian in comparison. Yet there’s something deliciously nonconformist about Dreijer turning to love songs aged 47, in a new phase of self-discovery. “Who am I while wanting you?” they sing. “Are they laughing at my thin skin?” It sounds as though Dreijer has taken a step back from living on the edge. That “peaceful sadness” seems to come from a reckoning with age, and what they might have missed out on. “Because I’m quite old now,” they offer, “when you discover things at this time in life, there has been a lot of time when you didn’t know.”

The music moves slower, too. Brother Olof brings his inimitable palette of drums, synths, bongs and squeaks, pulling instruments together in endlessly satisfying knots on Shiver, New Utensils and Kandy. Other borrowed brains include Portuguese producer Nídia , who builds a clattery batida rhythm under strangulated vocals on Looking for a Ghost, and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who underpin the album’s darkest moments with tape hiss and industrial fuzz. Carbon Dioxide is the big one, a symphonic endorphin rush from the mind of British experimental composer Vessel , which breaks down into stadium-sized trance as Dreijer’s voice soars: “Holding my heart! While falling!”

Dreijer’s gift as a songwriter is the ability to lace intimate observations and droll humour with occasionally sinister thoughts (“nothing is more fatal than an angry man,” they sang on the Knife’s Neverland) and outre ideas (the “bucket of tiger pee” from the Knife’s Without You My Life Would Be Boring). On Radical Romantics, their words remain tough nuts to crack, but between the lines there’s a heightened vulnerability. There are apologies – the album’s opening line is “first I’d like to say that I’m sorry” – and delicate questions: “Can I trust you?” they ask on the sex-starved Shiver, “I just wanna be touched.”

The lovesick dynamic comes to life on Kandy, a sensual slow dance with a Knife-esque shimmer. In the video Dreijer plays two characters: one the monstrous love interest, with stringy blond hair arranged in a tonsure, who does a lapdance for the other Karin, a sweet-seeming office drone in a bald cap. They think they’ve found love, says Dreijer, describing the force that’s taken hold: “I don’t care what they do to me, they can strangle me, but I just want to be seen by this person.”

It’s a dangerous and familiar dynamic, a “crazy high feeling you can have for a lot of activities and people and stuff. You know that it’s probably not the best thing to do, but it’s there and it’s very tempting.”

Therapy was one experience behind this questioning album. After doing that, “the world becomes so much bigger”, Dreijer says. “If you don’t know why you get anxiety it will just keep on crippling you … When you know more about yourself you will also be able to play around with your fears.” There’s a similarity, I suggest, between therapy and kink, as Dreijer explored in Plunge: both involve working out what pushes your buttons. Dreijer allows a tiny smile. “There is always the dangerous route,” they say vaguely. “It’s always there as a choice. I know I have to use my boundaries to say no to this thing, whatever it is – a person, thing, act – because it’s not wise and healthy for me in the long run. But it can be so amazingly amazing, short term.”

Not all of the album is so respectful: Even It Out is a playground revenge fantasy about taking down their child’s bully: “We know where you live,” Dreijer warns excitedly, “then we cut, cut, cut, cut!”

“A friend said, ‘I’ve never heard a track where a grown-up person is threatening a child.’ Oh? Is that what I’m doing? I didn’t see it. You get very angry and frustrated when nothing is done about those things. It’s always the absence of adults that were supposed to be there and prevent these things from happening,” they say indignantly. “But this is art.”

Dreijer lives in Stockholm with the younger of their two teenage children. “I am definitely more free now,” they say with regard to parenthood. “It’s not the same kind of care you have to provide.” Despite living in a country famed for its gender equality laws, Dreijer has felt suffocated by traditional roles. The irony, they argue, is that Sweden’s childcare policies once made it so easy to have kids that women ended up falling into old-fashioned roles anyway: equality for men and women isn’t the same as individual freedom from expectations around gender and family.

“Now we have this neo-fascist government,” says Dreijer of the new coalition, which is backed by the far-right Sweden Democrats, “but back then it was social democratic. There was this idea that women and men should have the same rights to a career, so you got paid parental leave and you could share it. That is a great idea, but at the same time it’s a hard question: do I want kids or not? It was there for everyone, it was so easy.”

It’s the unquestioned acceptance of these norms that bothers Dreijer most. The first Fever Ray album balked at the constrictions of motherhood, a world of “dishwasher tablets” and “concrete walls”; one early Knife track, Forest Families, recoiled at growing up in the suburbs, where girls “learn to stay fit” and how to do makeup.

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Their first taste of the music business was similarly disappointing; as the only woman in smart 90s indie outfit Honey Is Cool , they found themselves labelled as a “girl band” in a male-dominated industry. Forming the Knife in 1999 allowed Dreijer to contort their feline, almost elastic vocal style across a genderless spectrum, while the duo hid behind masks. In the 00s, their laser-cut electro epics were the chic alternative to the cock-rocking synths of Justice and co, attracting a legion of asymmetrical haircuts and misfits who preferred their indie discos “polysexual”. According to Fever Ray collaborator Peder Mannerfelt, the Knife are “like semi-gods” in their home country.

Dreijer builds a barricade around their outsider identity on What They Call Us, the spiky opener to Radical Romantics. Who is “us”, exactly? “I’m not a binary person,” they say, picking their words carefully. “Being brought up as a girl and not having the words for understanding what you are, it’s just something very itchy . And every time you try to break out from that you’re being punished in some way.” But gender is “just a very tiny part of the shape-shifting” that Dreijer is investigating. Their changing costumes, characters and vocal mutations are also about exploring emotions and challenging fear: “If I say this [lyric] from this body, with this voice, what will that do with my fear? How will this be perceived?”

After the second Knife album, Olof moved to Berlin to forge his melodic sensibilities into pristine techno under the alias Oni Ayhun . Returning to Stockholm a few years ago, he began a new career as a youth worker, but more recently the musical urge has returned.

“Did you want to talk to Olof as well?” asks Dreijer, and I realise that he’s been next-door the whole time: the siblings have built their own studio with a window in the dividing wall so that they can keep an eye on each other. Olof enters, bespectacled and soft-spoken, and reveals that as well as producing on Radical Romantics, he’s been making dance music again for the first time in a decade.

The Knife “had very, very strict ideas” about what they were doing, he recalls, which on early albums Deep Cuts and Silent Shout meant “packaging socialist and feminist messages in a very colourful pop format”. Their fans didn’t always clock the politics, but then the lyrics were pretty abstract and their biggest hit, Heartbeats, was ultimately a love song, albeit one of epic electronic proportions.

By the time of 2013’s Shaking the Habitual , when shiny synths were dropped in favour of rackety industrial acoustics, the Dreijers had become “very deadpan and serious”, he says. They did extra reading for that one, taking ideas from gender studies and postcolonial theory and focusing on the process of songwriting more than the results. But “now I’m much more interested in making songs that give some kind of feeling of coping with the day and giving energy”, he says, brightly. “I’m not at all interested in experimental music any more.”

For Karin, politics remains paramount: “When you have been working with [these concepts] for a long time, a lot of it stays in your backbone.” Plus, there are “so many different ways to be political within music – where you play, who you work with, what kind of equipment and instruments you’re using”. (Fever Ray’s touring band is a case in point, a collective comprising almost entirely women and non-binary musicians, dancers, technicians, even drivers.) The Plunge show was a thrill ride of muscle costumes, lusty choreography and throbbing new versions of old songs; rehearsals for a new tour are already under way.

The slower pulse of Radical Romantics might suggest that some of Dreijer’s youthful political vigour has faded. But in its place is a new grey area to be explored. Working with creative director Martin Falck , Dreijer has been adding gentler textures to the surreal cinematic world of Fever Ray, where prosthetics and bald caps bump up against cinematic references to David Lynch and Pedro Almodóvar. “On the last album everything was very extrovert, and I think this time around the stillness is a bit of a challenge to work with. It’s not as explosive, not as ‘fun’, in that sense,” says Dreijer, mentioning the awkward lapdance in the Kandy video.

The upshot is the realisation that “it can be very beautiful to be still with strong, heavy emotions. Even if your first instinct is just to run away, kill somebody or fuck somebody, or do something to ease the pain for a bit,” they laugh. Dreijer doesn’t do drugs, so they lean towards the physical. “But I think it’s very beautiful to be able to sit still with the shit that’s going on, and to accept that this is going on now, and to just hold it. And then it’s not scary.”

Radical Romantics is released on 10 March via Rabid Records

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Fever Ray Announces New Album Co-Produced By Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

The album comes out on 10 March 2023.

(Pic by Nina Andersson)

Fever Ray , real name Karin Dreijer, has announced that their third album and first in five years, Radical Romantics , will be released into the world on 10 March 2023 via Rabid Records.

Along with the album announcement, the If I Had A Heart singer has unveiled the single Carbon Dioxide , co-produced by Vessel . The Bristol-based producer composed the score for Robert Eggers ' Viking epic,  The Northman.

Radical Romantics follows their bold and challenging 2017 album, Plunge . 

The Swedish artist began working on their third solo album in 2019 in the Stockholm studios built with brother and fellow The Knife member Olof Dreijer.  In 2020, Olof joined Dreijer to co-produce and co-write the album opener, What They Call Us , released last month and already one of the most powerful songs in the Fever Ray catalogue. The siblings also worked on three other tracks together; it's the first time they have worked on music together in eight years.

As well as the family reunion and Vessel co-produce, Radical Romantics also features further co-producers and performers, including the power duo of Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Portuguese DJ and producer Nídia , Johannes Berglund , Peder Mannerfelt and Pär Grindvik's s technicolour dance project Aasthma.

Dreijer wanted Carbon Dioxide to describe the feeling of falling in love behind an electro-pop backdrop. "I just think that the direction could be nice, happy, full of everything, extra everything,” Dreijer told Vessel during the song’s genesis. 

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Vessel added, " Carbon Dioxide , a compound which, being defined by its bond with oxygen, seems to me like a neat chemical expression of the essential compassion that the conditions for life on our planet depend. Compassion and joy; happiness guarded from sentimentality by the absurd and the grotesque; the extra-everything of unconstrained Nature."

Fever Ray is known for unusual vocal stylings, open musings on queer identity and sexuality, and unsettling forays through electronic music.

Pre-order Radical Romantics here .

RADICAL ROMANTICS TRACKLIST

1. What They Call Us 2. Shiver 3 New Utensils 4. Kandy 5. Even It Out 6. Looking For A Ghost 7. Carbon Dioxide 8. North 9. Tapping Fingers 10. Bottom Of The Ocean 

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The European tour starts soon! We have some updates for you.

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