The Knife

Stockholm, Sweden's the Knife fashion a mystical façade that captured the affection of bloggers in 2004 with their brilliant avant-pop single "Heartbeats" — most recently a hit for acoustic gentleman José González. The first single from their new album, Silent Shout, veers into a darker, gothic realm; a hypnotic, dulled beat thrusts a sinfully programmed synth while Karin Dreijer Andersson's Björk-like coo is eclipsed by Olog Dreijer's Satanic tone. It's rather eerie, but no less beautiful and bewildering than before. (www.darthmahler.com/ MP3/ the_knife_silent_shout.mp3)