Above: Karin Dreijer AndersonBelow is a 22 year old Karin Dreijer Anderson (The Knife, Fever Ray) and her old band Honey is Cool. The video clip is of the bands single 'Nach Heart', from thier 1997 Album 'Crazy Love'. It was a follow up to the bands first album, "Focky Focky No Pay"...
This song has a very post 'The Bends' pop sensibility to it. At 2 minutes 46 seconds the song erupts, led by Andersons voice. The distorted guitars are made more dense by the My Bloody Valentine like droning jabs that pair up nicely with the slightly drenched siren-like solo sitting in behind them. Blah blah blah, wank wank wank.
Anyway, note: the pirouetting bald guy with a 'sides' mullet, the reference to Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' video, the Flaming Lips-esk animal costumes and the vibrant red lips of Karin's that remind me of Gwen Stefani's lips in No Doubt's 'Dont Speak' video clip.
I don't get the lyrics at all: "I've got a neat, miraculous sheet and purr, I bet it comes from underneath" but it sounds nice when she sings the words in that thick accent of hers so I don't really care. Maybe the words make more sense in Swedish?
I don't know if this music is good or average or whether I would have ever come across it if It wasn't for Honey is Cool's mention in Last FM's description of Fever Ray and The Knife. All I know is it reminds me of being a kid, and that nostalgia alone will make me keep listening to it. According to the clip comments on Youtube people either love it or hate it. Or (like me) they listen to it because it has some connection with The Knife and Fever Ray.
Here are some of the more intriguing comments:
mbvglider Why are people going on about the Knife? Honey is Cool is the best band ever, don't you know that?
dozzyy I didnt like anything about this.
hungh0rse THE KNIFE is UNFUCKABLE ! ! !
Compared to the creative space Anderson occupies now, 'Honey is Cool' seems very optimistic, youthful... mid-nineties. Unlike alot of artists that brought out music deemed 'relative' in the mid-nineties, Anderson seems to have gone the way of Radiohead - during the 12 years since '97 and '09 her sonic sensibilities and creative intelligence have both evolved, and have since propelled her to the edge of what I would call 'avant-garde' (at least as far as pop music goes). In terms of creativity versus age it's awesome to see someone at her age (with two kids and about to hit 40) still pushing her music to new levels and releasing a body of work I'd call inspiring.
To find out more/understand what I'm talking about click here and you will be directed to a really good interview with Karin Dreijer Anderson recently posted by Drowned In Sound.
