As we mentioned a while back, Karin Dreijer Andersson of Sweden's sibling synth duo The Knife has been working on her own project, Fever Ray. It would appear that collaborating with her brother on the Darwin-inspired opera "Tomorrow in a Year" has not overly distracted Ms Dreijer Andersson from her side project; Fever Ray will release its self-titled debut on March 23, preceded by the single "If I Had A Heart" on March 15.

Dreijer Andersson explains that the Knife's relative reticence since 2006's Silent Sound has nothing to do with lack of material. In fact, it was having an overabundance of tracks that propelled her to start Fever Ray. "I had so many songs to record that I just had to make an album."

With the album now ready for release, Karin is looking forward to hitting the road, she elaborates, "My aim was to finish the album and now that it's done I'm a bit restless. During the last few years I discovered that I like to sing too, so I hope that my newly-found live band will make it to the stages next year. We are rehearsing and building something beautiful and brilliant."

It's looking like 2009 could be a busy year for The Knife and Knife-related projects. [NME]