The experiemental pop duo The Knife have opened up about the feminist intentions behind their work, talking about the bias towards men in music journalism and how they have used their latest album to explore ideas of gender and society.
The Knife's female half, Karin Dreijer Andersson, explains that, “we've done about twenty interviews so far, and uh… I think if we've done twenty, about two of the interviewers have been female.” Her brother and musical partner Olof Dreijer expands:
“We have a patriarchal system in our society, and that is shown in all sides of society; it of course occurs in the music industry as well… In our society I believe that men are taught to that it's more ok to be a nerd and to put things into certain orders and um, kind-of get the first tools you need to become a music journalist.”
In 2003 The Knife boycotted the Grammys by sending two representatives of the Guerrilla Girls, a feminist group dedicated to increasing female representation in the arts, as a protest against male dominance in the music industry.
Dreijer Andersson says that their latest record, Shaking The Habitual, is at least partly about challenging what she sees as these entrenched social dynamics. She says that, “it should be open and free for everybody to be like a music technician, it has not anything to do with what gender you have or what sexuality or what class you have. I know there is so many female musicians and technicians who have a hard time with the industry, it's so male-dominated, and I think we've got the chance to make a change about that, and this [the album] is one way of doing it.”
The album debuted in today's ARIA Albums Chart at 50.
