LogFAQs > #957978695

My 19th favorite album of all time and probably the most obscure of my favorites. This is synthpop as it has rarely been seen before or since, though its influence feels obvious - CHVRCHES, Purity Ring, and even Grimes probably owe a lot to this Swedish duo. Karin Dreijer's vocals here are a journey through everything modern production will allow, while the synthlines are pure ecstasy. This is not an entirely pleasant journey, but that is by design - Silent Shout (and followup Shaking the Habitual even moreso) is something I would classify as horror in music form. Songs like "Na Na Na" and "Like a Pen" are about as abrasive as music comes, so you have to approach this album more as an insight into what music can be rather than simple entertainment. The lyrics are also disarming, a tour of various forms of oppression and inner turmoil.

Silent Shout (copying what I posted in my song project): House is a genre that I tend to associate with, if not warmth, at least relative frivolity. This is a genre made for clubs, places to escape from the stress of everyday life. Silent Shout feels like an intentional antithesis, featuring all the driving synthesizer you could want but cast from the darkest pits of human torment. This is not a song for raves but the horrid aftermath, like stumbling through the darkest woods from unknown assailants while coming down from a bad trip. Silent Shout is horror as music.

The percussion is demanding, forceful, its repetitive beat a haunting presence throughout the track. Karin Dreijer layers their voice atop itself, one a low register suggesting something demonic while the others retain a human quality. The lyrics are a trip themselves, a surrealist nightmare of finding oneself incapable of speaking. Through the dark sound, a sadder truth forms this is a song of the oppressed and forgotten, too unsightly to garner proper attention. More than an atmospheric piece alone, this is a house track at heart, and a glorious one at that. The synthesizer soars, finding new ways to build on top of itself. Where most other tracks I would describe as horror tend to be complex and intentionally off-putting, Silent Shout finds a perfect balance between outright creepiness and accessibility.

Neverland: Among the more approachable tracks on the album, which makes it comparatively dull to me but still carrying a forceful rhythm.

The Captain: The colossal soundscape that makes up the intro to this song is a wonderful slice of ambience, and the transition into pop rhythms is to die for. I expect some might get bored of that slow build, but this is monolithic.

We Share Our Mothers' Health: I think of this as the most 'fun' track on the album. The rhythm is killer, and the dueling vocal section at the end is sonic perfection.

Na Na Na: As I said in my full album comment, "Na Na Na" and its high-pitched vocals are truly abrasive. Yet the synthesizer that pops in about 50 second in hits like a fog machine - this entire track is coated in a murky haze, an early morning jog from someone who peers over their shoulders the entire time.

Marble House: Perhaps the only song on Silent Shout that could be called traditionally pretty, and also the only track to have vocals from someone other than Dreijer. Lyrically, the perfect centerpiece for the album, closing in on the generational cycle that passes down so many of the beliefs that cause the tension in the other tracks.

Like a Pen: This song is an absolute nightmare - The Knife legitimately captured the sensation of having a panic attack here. The lyrics are also the most visceral on the album, exploring dysmorphia by invoking anorexia. An unpleasant piece out of context, but vital to the Silent Shout experience. The rhythm, as on nearly all of these tracks, is mindblowing, and the cloying synthesizers have certainly grown on me over time.

From Off To On: The only track here I could do without - the soundscape is too simple to be engaging, and the lyrics and vocals are rather bland.

Forest Families: Continues the pulsing anxiety found in "Like a Pen," but a bit more restrained to its benefit. As we near the end of the album, we finally get a song showing the slightest shred of hope, but also trapped in a religious community where the narrator cannot express themself. But that insistent synthline is so suggestive of their escape.

One Hit: The odd one out on the album - after nine tracks of terror, The Knife take on the perspective of the oppressor himself. Pitchfork describes this as the only example of 'goblin-glam' in their review of the album, and it's hard to find a better term. This is the peak of the vocal experimentation on the album - how low can Dreijer go? The lyrics are phenomenal, with "spending time with my family like the Corleones" being truly killer.

Still Light: Not much out of context, but a poignant endpoint - how else to end this album than someone waking up from a suicide attempt? But, importantly, there is the smallest ray of hope as a doctor sits at the narrator's side and offers help.

My ranking:
1. Silent Shout (#175 all-time)
2. We Share Our Mother's Health (#679)
3. One Hit
4. Marble House
5. Forest Families
6. Like a Pen
7. The Captain
8. Na Na Na
9. Neverland
10. Still Light
11. From Off to On


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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/
Top 250 songs: https://foolfantastic.com/3290-2/