Nick Cave is dark in and of himself. He’s mysterious and emotional and his music comes from a visceral place. So, it must be hard to out do him in the intensely creepy, often morbid bit, right? Well, if someone can give Mr. Cave a run for his money it’s Fever Ray and the video for Anita Lane-written “Stranger Than Kindness”, which Cave’s been rocking since 1986.
The video, which premiered on Vanity Fair, is one of the better videos under the Fever Ray banner, which of course is just Karin Dreijer Andersson, the vocalist for Swedish band The Knife. Andersson is known to have a love affair with all things Gothic, which she demonstrates brilliantly through both song and video. As far as covers go, the song is pretty true to the vocal tone of the original; both versions feature that near-demonic voice slowed through a vat of molasses. Fever Ray’s version, on the other hand, features a more electronica skew to it. The video itself is in a world of its own. It’s like Where The Wild Things Are meets The Shining in a late 19th century French castle on acid. So Nick Cave fans should just eat it up.
The song is also featured on Fever Ray — The Double Disc Edition album. The two-disc set, released October 19th, features songs from the debut self-titled album along with new tracks and a DVD of videos for several songs, including this one here.