Single of the Week: The Knife - "A Tooth For An Eye"

Having already bookmarked Shaking the Habitual as an album to watch out for, and after the nine-minute techno- pop disintegration "Full of Fire" and its Marit Östberg-directed "short film" acting as a substantial, redefined "Welcome back!" package, the Knife's latest single didn't even need to be impressive. Yet "A Tooth For An Eye", the new record's opener compliments its predeccessor (and successor, reading the tracklist), working as an excellent signifier of another facet of the group's sound. The video description wants us to know that the song "deconstructs images of maleness, power and leadership" (I thought all Knife songs were about this?). During the song this message comes from the ever-masterful voice of Karin Dreijer, whose vocal talents bring a strenuous edge to the reasonably sweet and oddly inviting synths, as well as the geographically adventurous percussion. The Knife have taken enormous strides between their last album and here, and suddenly a 100-minute pallette of new material seems very appetising indeed.