''Silent Shout'' is the third studio album by Swedish
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
duo
the Knife, released on 17 February 2006 by
Rabid Records
Rabid Records is a Swedish record label founded in 1998 by members of Honey Is Cool. Today the label is operated by Karin Dreijer and Olof Dreijer of the synthpop duo The Knife, as well as Frau Rabid. The label rarely releases anything other ...
. The album is darker than its predecessor, ''
Deep Cuts'' (2003).
It spawned four singles: "
Silent Shout
''Silent Shout'' is the third studio album by Swedish electronic music duo the Knife, released on 17 February 2006 by Rabid Records. The album is darker than its predecessor, '' Deep Cuts'' (2003). It spawned four singles: " Silent Shout", " M ...
", "
Marble House
Marble House, a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, was built from 1888 to 1892 as a summer cottage for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt and was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the Beaux Arts style ...
", "
We Share Our Mothers' Health" and "
Like a Pen
"Like a Pen" is a song by Swedish electronic music duo The Knife from their third studio album, ''Silent Shout'' (2006). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on 16 October 2006 in the United Kingdom and on 28 November in the Uni ...
".
The album, the music video for the title track and some of the press photos were inspired by the work of German-American animator
Oskar Fischinger
Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger (June 22, 1900 – January 31, 1967) was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter, notable for creating abstract musical animation many decades before the appearance of computer graphics and music vid ...
and the comic book series ''
Black Hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
'' by American cartoonist
Charles Burns.
A three-disc deluxe edition of ''Silent Shout'' was released in Europe on 2 July 2007 and in the US on 17 July. In addition to the studio album, this package includes the DVD ''
Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience'' (which contains the Knife's live concert in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
on 12 April 2006, as part of their ''Silent Shout'' tour, and all of the duo's music videos to date), as well as a CD of the concert's audio.
Music and composition
''Silent Shout'' is a
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
and
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
album. The collaboration between
Olof and
Karin Dreijer
Karin Elisabeth Dreijer (born 7 April 1975) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and record producer. Dreijer was one half of the electronic music duo the Knife, formed with their brother Olof Dreijer. Dreijer released their Fever Ray (album), debut ...
was described by the French pop culture magazine ''Magic'' as
Jay-Jay Johanson
Jäje Johansson (born 11 October 1968), better known by his stage name Jay-Jay Johanson, is a Swedish-British singer-songwriter, known for his melancholic vocals. His music has integrated the trip hop genre until he switched his sound to a more ...
meets
Siouxsie
Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), known professionally as Siouxsie Sioux, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. She was the lead singer of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976–1996). They released 11 ...
. ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' viewed Karin's performance on the album as a "shrill voice (think
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
by way of
Ari Up
Ariane Daniele Forster (17 January 1962 – 20 October 2010), known by her stage name Ari Up, was a German vocalist best known as a member of the English punk rock band the Slits.
Biography
Ari Up was born in Munich, West Germany. Both her pare ...
by way of Siouxsie Sioux by way of Mu's Mutsumi Kanamori)".
Karin's multi-tracked vocals were frequently pitch-shifted to produce a "creepy result".
''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'' also said that sonically, the music merged "Siouxsie Sioux with
Aphex Twin
Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic music, electronic styles such as techno, ambient music, ambient, and jun ...
".
Critical reception
''Silent Shout'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 74, based on 22 reviews.
''Pitchfork'' named it the best album of 2006 and the title track the second best song. The song was also listed at number 74 on the website's list of "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s", while the album was placed at number 15 on its list of "The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s". The album placed 15th in ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
''s year-end critics' poll.
''
Resident Advisor
''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...
'' named ''Silent Shout'' the second best album of 2006 and ninth best album of the 2000s decade. In 2009, the album was included at number five on ''
Clash''s "Essential 50" list. ''Silent Shout'' was placed at number 95 on ''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
''s list of the best albums of the 2000s. ''
musicOMH
MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.
History
MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...
'', when compiling its "21 Best Albums of the 2000s" list, placed the album at number seven. On their "50 Greatest Albums of the 2000s" feature, ''
Gigwise
''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England.
History
Gigwise was launched in 2001 ...
'' placed the album at number seven, calling it "ground-breaking" and stating, "On the first spin it's baffling, second it's intriguing, but many listens in and you realize that Karin and Dreijer have concocted a masterpiece of their genre."
The album was ranked number 83 on ''Pitchfork''s People's List, a readers' poll of the 200 best albums from ''Pitchfork''s first 15 years (1996–2011).
Commercial performance
As of January 2013, ''Silent Shout'' had sold 65,000 copies in the United States, according to
Nielsen SoundScan
Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
. In October 2011, the album was awarded a gold certification from the
Independent Music Companies Association
The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), originally the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, is a non-profit trade association established in 2000 to help European independent record labels represent their agenda a ...
(IMPALA), which indicated sales in excess of 75,000 copies throughout Europe.
Track listing
Deluxe edition
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Silent Shout''.
*
The Knife – recording, programming, production, vocals, mixing
*
Jay-Jay Johanson
Jäje Johansson (born 11 October 1968), better known by his stage name Jay-Jay Johanson, is a Swedish-British singer-songwriter, known for his melancholic vocals. His music has integrated the trip hop genre until he switched his sound to a more ...
– vocals
* Christoffer Berg – mixing
* Pelle Gunnerfeldt – mixing
* Henrik Jonsson – mastering
* Johan Toorell – artwork
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2006 albums
The Knife albums
Mute Records albums
V2 Records albums