The Knife at Manchester Academy

Despite acclaim for their first album Deep Cuts, it took a cover of their song ‘Heartbeats’ by fellow Swede José González – and a subsequent TV advert – for the shy kids of electropop to garner the attention they so richly deserved. The subsequent praise heaped on 2006’s Silent Shout and last year’s Shaking the Habitual are testament to their enormous talent and inventiveness in the face of their own reluctance to court publicity – a reluctance reflected in the bijou scale of their tour this November. The tour, entitled ‘Shaken-Up Show’ is incredibly compact, covering only three dates in three cities across one week – with the middle date fortunately landing at Manchester Academy 1. The show is likely to focus on material from the last album – all nightmarish soundscapes punctured by Karin Dreijer Andersson’s distinctive wail – and represents a unique opportunity to see two elusive performers at the top of their game.

Wed 5 Nov, Manchester Academy 1, Oxford Road, M13 9PR, 7pm, £25, www.ticketline.co.uk