The Knife - A Tooth For An Eye

Themes of story-telling, control and how the two intertwine continue to dominate The Knife’s new material, with their second new single A Tooth For An Eye announcing firmly, “I’m telling you stories, trust me.”

After the lead single, Full Of Fire, highlighted the social and political control that’s built into civilisation, A Tooth For An Eye reassesses power dynamics and puts the narrative in the mouth of the oppressed, imagining the world told from the perspective of those who are usually silenced. All of this meshes powerfully with directors Roxy Farhat and Kakan Hermansson’s short film, in which a young girl enters a masculine-centric arena – sports – and takes control by leading a group of older men in a dance.

There’s something hypnotising and intimate about it, with the young girl’s performance being a thing of brazen confidence, and the men being unafraid to be made vulnerable. Not to mention, the track is warmer and more tender than the last, full of rolling, afrobeat-tinged metallic percussion, with woodwind-esque touches and electronic shimmer setting off Karin Dreijer Andersson’s emotionally raw vocal. If anything could possibly have made us more excited to hear the new record, this is it.

Update: The video above contains an edited version of A Tooth For An Eye – the full version of the song is now available to stream via the Soundcloud player below.