The Knife Tomorrow, In a Year

• Intro
• Epochs
• Geology
• Upheaved
• Minerals
• Ebb Tide Explorer
• Variation of Birds
• Letter to Henslow
• Schoal Swarm Orchestra
• Annie’s Box
• Tumult
• Colouring of Pigeons
• Seeds
• Tomorrow in a Year
• The Height of Summer
• Annie’s Box (alt. vocal)

Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma hired The Knife to work on an opera based on Darwin's On the Origin of Species, even though The Knife had never seen an opera, much less written music for one. Still, the Swedish brother/sister duo took on the challenge, recruiting Mt. Sims and Planningtorock and immediately setting out to research the project. Olof Dreiser flew to the Amazon to gather field recordings, they both read Darwin's works extensively for inspiration, and they learned to appreciate the finer aspects of opera. Olof remarked that "It took me about a year to become emotionally moved by an opera singer" in a press release. The first performance of Tomorrow, In a Year took place in September 2009 and the physical release is set for early 2010.

Abstract by Matthew Blackwell