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Bjork



Medulla 8½ ( 2004 )
The Pleasure Is All Mine / Show Me Forgiveness / Where Is the Line / Vökuró / Öll Birtan / Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left Carry My Pain on the Right) / Submarine / Desired Constellation / Oceania / Sonnets/Unrealities / Ancestors / Mouth's Cradle / Miđvikudags / Triumph of a Heart

A temple without religion, a plane soaring without engines. Covering your arms in feathers and attempting to fly to the sun. Only approximately half of the tracks on 'Medulla' can be classified as songs as such. Bjork has done what perhaps was the only thing left for her to do - ditch the music altogether. Well, it's not strictly true that this is an entirely acapella record, although 95% of it certainly is. Elsewhere, voices are processed to sound like beats or bass lines. Heavenly choirs spring up during the likes of the stunning 'Where Is The Line' so first of all, don't go into this thinking all you're getting is fourteen tracks of Bjork singing and vocalising on her own. 'Medulla' isn't quite that straightforward. In actual fact, it isn't straightforward at all. Even by Bjork standards 'Medulla' is a challenge. Well, if the aspect you like least on an average Bjork record is her singing and voice, clearly, don't go anywhere near this album. For those that have enjoyed her edging ever further outwards, this may be as far out as she can go. She's surrounded herself with professional singers of the likes of Mike Patton, Robert Wyatt, an entire Icelandic Choir. Matmos, who has done some strange things, helps out with the programming. Bjork has always managed to surround herself with very cool people. I like 'Submarine', a wholly vocal excersize that sounds like voice training, but the distinctive sound of Robert Wyatt can be heard and adds another something else.

'Ancestors' just makes me stop dead. A conglomoration of guttaral sounds amidst a lonely sounding piano, a real instrument that suddenly sounds like it's a million years old. The voices ignore this strange foreign object for they are even older than that. A tremendous amount of beauty and emotions come at you even though it's hard to place and you certainly don't have any discernable words to get hold of. The songs in English, such as 'Mouth's Cradle' are inevitably the ones you can get hold of first of all. Yet, even this contains seemingly strange combinations of words alongside a monk-like chorus of voices. It's actually very beautiful indeed. The closing 'Triumph Of A Heart' is full of human beat-boxing that really is remarkable and 'Who Is It' mentions a 'skeleton of trust', so you can see, even the songs that are in English and not wordless or Icelandic aren't easily comprehensible. 'Who Is It' is actually one of the more approachable songs in terms of easily understood melody, vocal melody at least. Hardly potential single material, though. 'Medulla' is anti-commercial yet has won Bjork a lot of friends. She's been around for quite some years now and still seeks to be original, progressive and above all, interesting. We love her for that.

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Readers Comments lee Her least commercial record but also her finest. It is very personal to the point it cannot be understood totally but by herself. However, the emotion is in the music and thats where it shines. The fact that some tracks are sung in icelandic and succeed is in that she is expressing herself in pure music without any other comprehension on the listeners part other than the sounds he/she hears and how that individual interprets it. All time classic in years to come !!

Bjork returns to adriandenning.co.uk. I reviewed all of her albums once then deleted the reviews for being far too crap. For those that want to know, 'Volta' isn't a return to 'Debut' or 'Post' rather a return to something like 'Homogenic', at least it approaches something that might be considered commercial and graspable. She works with noted hip-hop producer Timbaland on a few tracks. Nothing here sounds like Fergie or Nelly Furtado because this is Bjork. 'Innocence' sounds scary to me, lots of weird sounds courtesy of both Bjork and Timbaland. Bjork still scares me. Why does it sound like a ship is being launched at the beginning of 'Declare Independence' and then like she's buried the guitar player under several pillows? 'Dull Flame Of Desire' is a Bjork duet? Who could sing with Bjork I hear you cry! Well, Anthony of Anthony And The Johnsons of course. The result is interestingly pleasingly naturally very peculiar. Sonny and Cher need not be worried or cancel their prime-time TV show just yet. What do you mean that was decades ago? Bjork never sounds old herself, only ever sounding progressive and artful no matter what she does. It's a beautiful track. 'My Juvenille' is another duet with Anthony. Weird Bjork instrumentation barely there, the song is hard to unravel and Bjork's voice is raw and naked. Anthony doesn't get a lot to do here to be honest, but when his vocals do come in the song enjoys another layer of interest. It's a quiet, fitting album closer that weirdly reminds me of her own 'Anchor Song'. I say weirdly because it sounds nothing like that song.

'Dull Flame Of Desire' is a song with both a wonderful name and wonderful emotions. The percussive 'Earth Intruders' leads off the album. 'Earth Intruders'? What, loads of Bjorks ready to take over and conquer the world? This mix of Bjork and producer Timbaland is very funky, eccentric and well sung, although describing what Bjork does as singing doesn't quite seem right. It's a really good track, a wonderful way to open the album and the magic of Bjork is very definitely present. 'Wanderlust' is a great song-title to appear on a Bjork album. It's also seven minutes long, goes through several parts including a dancey part with beats that are hard to dance to, With Bjork that normally is the norm that we like her for. Never easy on us, Miss Bjork. The mix with Timaland is often inspired and the other tracks at least have suitable Bjork type atmospheres. Waves on rocks like 'Vertebrae by Vertebrae' for example. The album isn't easy and isn't quite one of her best, but quality will out in the end. Repeated listenings are generally satisfying.

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