The only time I’ve seen Fever Ray live was at Coachella in 2010 and, even then, I only caught part of their set sometime on the first night of the festival after I had already decided that I was over Coachella and the only thing that might ever get me back is The Smiths reunion that I estimated would be announced the day after hell freezes over. All that said, I don’t really have a true concert experience to compare to The Year of the Radical Romantics, the new, live-ish album from Fever Ray, but that’s probably for the best.
I say live-ish because it’s not a concert record, but, rather live-to-tape studio versions, so the rawness level is closer to what you would hear at a concert than on a produced album, but it’s also not tied to a specific show. The Year of the Radical Romantics, does have the kind of flow and mix of new and old material that you would anticipate hearing in concert. There’s a nice balance of material from across Karin Dreijer’s albums as Fever Ray, beginning with “I’m Not Done,” a deep cut from their stellar 2009 debut that’s far more energetic here than on the self-titled album. Radical Romance, the 2023 album that spawned the There’s No Place I’d Rather Be Tour and this new album, is heavily represented in the set, with six songs on the 14-track collection. There are also a couple songs from Plunge here, notably the single “The Moon and Back.”
What I enjoy most about The Year of the Radical Romantics is that you have to use your imagination when listening. It’s not like watching the phone footage your friends posted to Instagram. There’s no audience interaction here, but, you can listen and imagine how crowds might have responded to hearing these songs live. (And, from what I’ve seen on setlist.fm, a lot of these songs were part of last year’s shows.) It sounds like some of this by design, like you can hear in Dreijer’s delivery where they’re anticipating the crowd to shout out song lyrics. Plus, the songs are arranged so that the crowd gets up and dances, then has time to catch their breath. The jams, like “Even It Out” and “Carbon Dioxide” on here are more dance floor-friendly here than they are on previous releases, which is a big reason why I prefer this live-to-tape album than a concert album. It can still sound good in a club and I do intend on playing a few of these songs in my sets soon.
There’s also a The Year of the Radical Romantics book/magazine, which I have not seen, but does sound like something that Fever Ray fans would like to have.
Get The Year of the Radical Romantics by Fever Ray. Vinyl and magazine/book are available for pre-order now.
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Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs or listen to the latest Beatique Mix. Follow on Instagram or Bluesky for more updates.
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