The Knife Call It Quits

2014 is shaping up to be a bad year for fans of agitator music duos: Mysterious Swedish synth-pop duo The Knife is splitting up. In a new interview, Karin Dreijer tells Dazed & Confused, "When we finish the tour now in November we will close down, it’s our last tour. We don’t have any obligations to continue, it should only and always be for fun.” The band's PR rep confirmed that the sibling duo of Karin and Olof Dreijer would "officially be no more" following this tour.

The Knife began in 1999, and over the course of four studio albums and one opera score they simultaneously aimed to twist the conventions of synth-pop and those of gender and identity norms. Their breakout third album, Silent Shout, expertly matched gleaming melodicism with warped and unsettling textures, and last year's polarizing Shaking the Habitual ratcheted up the political art quotient, resulting in an avant collection of protest songs and droning instrumentals.

Their final show is November 8 in Reykjavik, Iceland.

[via Stereogum]