Sure, opera isn’t exactly mainstream and is often times pretty atonal and cacophonous, but when written by Swedish pop duo The Knife, it can wield a more alluring sound.
Tomorrow In A Year, their full length album that was released in early 2010, is a collaboration between The Knife, Mt. Sims, and Planningtorock. It livens up the genre with both abstract nuances as well as their far more familiar electronic rhythms. It roughly follows the story of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, flush with allusions to his work.
While laboring through the entire album may be a bit tedious if you’re not on shrooms, there are several tracks that are a seamless amalgam of pop and opera. Check out “Colouring of Pigeons,” “The Height of Summer,” “Annie’s Box,” “Seeds,” and “Variation of Birds.”
The opera was originally commissioned by a Danish performance art company for a live opera, so there are several moments where listening to audio alone seems a bit empty without the visual component. But, honestly, my favorite part of this aural re-imagining of evolution stems from creating those visuals myself. On shrooms, of course. [Top art: Music Is Art]
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