Fever Ray Heard 'What They Call Us'

Swedish artist Karin Dreijer's solo project is back with their first non-remix single in five years with "What They Call Us." Picking up where 2017's Plunge left off, Fever Ray's new single gives all the queer yearning, existential insecurity, enigmatic lyrics, spiraling synth arpeggios and cold formidable industrial beats we've come to love and expect from them.

Written and co-produced by brother and former bandmate Olof Dreijer, the track functions as a mini The Knife reunion, which you can kind of hear in its Silent Shout-esque instrumentation. The two previously collaborated on a remix of Fever Ray's "Wanna Sip" and even dusted off The Knife moniker to rework Björk's "Feature Creatures" in 2019. Björk would go on to return the favor with her own remix of Fever Ray's "This Country Makes It Hard to Fuck" for the Plunge remix album.

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"What They Call Us" arrives alongside a new music video directed by longtime collaborator Martin Falck, who previously delivered us 2018's destructive decadent dinner party for "Wanna Sip." The visual sees Fever Ray channel a Tim Burton-style office drone navigating the dull gray cubicle walls through a hazy jungle and eventually emerging into an office party with a sign reading "It's Your Last Day!" hanging ominously in the background.

For all of the setting's banality, Fever Ray brings a sort of feral energy to the video, whether it's the wild eyed smile slapped across their face as they smash it on a photocopier or the perverted glee they seem to bask in as they're showered in paperwork, all ultimately culminating in the artist, the red-eyed Babadook-type monster lurking in the periphery and the retirement party from purgatory reaching a fever pitch.

Watch the official music video for Fever Ray's "What They Call Us," below.

Photography: Karolina Pajak