Swedish avant-electro group The Knife have pressed the limits of recorded music in the past few years, and by providing music for “Tomorrow, in a Year,” an opera inspired by Charles Darwin (seen through the eyes of Darwin), they’re expanding the realm of musical theatre as well. Of course, opera could have used a little updating.
The modern opera, currently in Germany and making its way through Europe to Budapest in the spring, features The Knife’s dark and eerie electronic compositions along with appropriately surreal set design and lighting. Vocals reminiscent to the group’s bent and shifted recorded style join with characteristic operatic modes, and the result is even more unsettling than the group’s already sinister norm.
The nearly seven minute trailer features an array of music and designs, but a dark, dreamy air seems to permeate the entire production – surprising few familiar with the group but still highly affecting.
The Knife may be on indefinite hiatus, but 50% of the group in karin dreijer andersson’s Fever Ray will be near the top of many 2009 top ten album lists with her similarly creepy debut.
