{"product_id":"the-do_shake-shook-shaken_2014","title":"Shake shook shaken","description":"Powerful, intense, conquering. Shake Shook Shaken is the very special odyssey of The Dø. Olivia Merilahti and Dan Levy have always favored taking risks over comfort and compromise; with this third album, the Franco-Finnish duo makes a radical shift: a futuristic turn driven by syncopated electronics. After the wonderful accidents of A Mouthful (2008) and the organic experiments of Both Ways Opens Jaws (2011), Shake Shook Shaken answers a new demand, elevated to the rank of “dogma” in the words of the artists themselves: Dan and Olivia deliberately chose to do away with acoustic instruments in order to focus on synthetic, danceable, and percussive notes. “When we started composing these tracks,” they explain, “we only used a laptop and a keyboard. We quickly became obsessed with this setup, this form of minimalism that banned ‘real’ instruments to the point of making it a working principle: guitars and drums, which we had almost overused before, were deliberately set aside. Our goal with Shake Shook Shaken was to make our own sounds that we had previously underestimated, while getting straight to the essentials of a pop format.” From a 18th-century water tower that they turned into their studio in the middle of nowhere, their search, between asceticism and refinement, ends up becoming a matter of self-transcendence. “We were very hard on ourselves,” Dan explains. “As soon as we felt we were heading toward something too convoluted, we cut it down with an axe. We wanted a very epic, heroic album, a bit comic-book, a bit manga: a superhero record. There was no question of sounding bucolic or pastoral. I have never been so drawn in by synthetic sounds as in the middle of those fields.” Olivia also evokes her family roots when explaining another founding principle of Shake Shook Shaken: “In Finland, there is ‘sisu,’ this form of tenacity that stands as a cardinal value: whatever happens, you don’t give up, you don’t see yourself as a victim, and you move forward. We identified with that notion while writing the album. We wanted to make a bright record that would reach as many people as possible, but without ever slipping into the easy way out.” “I don't mind where I land as long as I'm in trustful hands,” she declares in the second track. “My lyrics are more or less surreal poems. I also wasn’t afraid, as on this song, ‘Trustful Hands,’ to be deliberately straightforward. I talk a lot about finding one’s place in chaos, which can also be comfortable and which, in any case, one has to learn to live with.” Shake Shook Shaken has its share of unifying anthems, from the opening “Keep Your Lips Sealed” to the solemn “A Mess Like This,” from the lively “Despair, Hangover \u0026 Ecstasy” to the aptly named “Miracles (Back in Time),” considered by the band as a “pillar” among these 12 tracks (“listening to it, we finally knew we were on the right track”). The music of The Dø carries its audience between martial rhythms (“Going Thru Walls”), tribal vibes and a cosmic dimension, while Olivia’s voice takes on a new breadth: “Just as we wanted short song formats, without chatter,” she explains, “I no longer wanted to do vocal acrobatics. The message had to be striking from start to finish.” Abundant, emotionally powerful, rich in surprises and other sonic innovations, Shake Shook Shaken is nonetheless the duo’s most direct album. “We wanted to get straight to the point, but while innovating in both instrumentation and sound,” Dan explains. “During the full year it took to make this record, we listened to a lot of hip hop, club music, brutal techno: these are the genres that are innovating the most right now — it moves very fast, it’s very inspiring. I’m fascinated by a band like Die Antwoord, their directness, their total freedom, or by the way Beyoncé and Kanye West are revolutionizing popular music.” True to who they have always been, Olivia and Dan once again worked in a nearly self-sufficient process, only supported during the mix by the presence of Fab Dupont: “He knew how to create space in our rich and dense compositions, polish them and give them the clarity we were looking for. It was the only outside help we allowed ourselves, but it was crucial.” Olivia and Dan succeed in the challenge of making music that is both cerebral and visceral, building bridges between present and future. Plural in its approach, uncompromising by nature, Shake Shook Shaken lays the foundations for a unique experiment and sets out to conquer unexplored territories.","brand":"The Dø","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58783020908888,"sku":null,"price":23086845.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0898\/4943\/0360\/files\/3596973169228.jpg?v=1791930780","url":"https:\/\/vinyles.com\/en-us\/products\/the-do_shake-shook-shaken_2014","provider":"Vinyles.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}