The Other Side Of Hyper Focus

Fever Ray “Carbon Dioxide”

Karin Dreijer has one of the most distinct and fascinating voices I’ve encountered, and that’s before even factoring in their frequent use of effects to warp and disguise it. But even when pushed to the most perverse extremes Dreijer is always recognizable, mainly for their particular cadences and inflections. They don’t even need digital processing to sound odd and uncanny, but it’s a big part of Dreijer’s art in The Knife and Fever Ray – it’s an audio version of masks, costumes, inhabiting characters. “Carbon Dioxide” is a relatively straight forward dance pop number that doesn’t get too wild with vocal manipulation but it still clicks in large part because Dreijer’s base timbre feels so alien and uncanny. The lyrics position infatuation and lust as something a little uncomfortable and grotesque, but in a way that only makes it hotter. It’s about an attraction that’s visceral and shameless, a situation where the line “hold my heart while falling” hits as both an expression of overpowering emotion but also a literal gory fantasy.

Buy it from Bandcamp.