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at a glance...
Hometown:
Reykjavik, Iceland
First Solo Recording: 1975
Personnel:
Björk -- vocals, programming
Mark "Spike" Stent, Jake Davies, Marius de Vries, Guy Sigsworth, Zeena Parkins, Jack Perron -- programming, arranging
Bands In The Family:
The Sugarcubes, 808 State, Radiohead, Tricky, Underworld, Massive Attack, Howie B, Cassius, A Tribe Called Quest, Radiohead, Talvin Singh
Notes:
Having already released a hit album when she was 11, Björk Guðmundsdóttir was involved in several punk bands as a teenager, one of which morphed into the Sugarcubes in 1986. The Sugarcubes were superstars in Iceland and had a strong following in both the UK and America, but tension within the band led to their 1992 demise. After the break up, Björk moved to London. The dance culture there inspired her to pursue a dance-oriented solo career, and in 1993 she released Debut. Björk's strange interpretation of pop and hip-hop thrust her into the spotlight immediately. With 1995 came the more subtle Post, and in 1996, Björk allowed Nellee Hooper, Graham Massey, Tricky, and the Brodsky Quartet, among others, to tranform Post into Telegram. In 1997, Björk decided to take production matters into her own hands and the result was Homogenic, which has placed her in international demand. Björk provided the soundtrack for the Lars Von Trier film Dancer in the Dark, in which she starred, titled Selmasongs in 2000. Vespertine is her latest release.
Links:
Check out our
Björk Mothership
Read Ink Blot's tribute to Björk, "Dancing Queen"
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Björk
Vespertine
Elektra, Released 2001
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Still, glittering, coveted, nighttime winter landscapes; the rush of the thaw breaking through at springtime; the essence of ancient pagan rituals; Broadway musicals; spaceships. Only one person possesses the power to compose an album that not only encompasses all of the above, but is firmly cohesive sensible and spontaneous, and frankly beyond stunning. And who might that be? Well, that would be Björk. You really can't expect many other artists to maintain such a standard of interplanetary musical über-excellence.
Even if lyrically Vespertine has nothing to do with spaceships, the album's rhythms and sounds are an amazing journey through space and time. Starting with the most simplistic, ancient tinkling of bells and progressing to twittering, tweaked out sounds, Björk takes you back and forth between Gregorian chants and outer space. However, while Homogenic, Post, and Debut were emotionally frenetic and often musically confrontational, Vespertine is rich in its tranquillity and spiritual divinity, full of astute observation and patient acceptance. But Björk's not getting all preachy on us - she's more of a self-declared shaman, drinking in with quiet delight nature, motherhood, and the little uncertainties of love. A bit hippie, yes, but songs like "Hidden Place", "Cocoon" and "It's Not Up to You" are electronic symphonies that justify the indulgence.
Wintry bliss wraps itself around "Undo" and "Frosti", whose rhythms sound like the crackling of icicles as they fall to the ground, while "Aurora" has a beat that's like feet crunching through the snow. Her melodic swells and vocal declarations put her at center stage in her own intimate show, and the final track, "Unison" sums up all of Björk's sounds - beginning with soft vocals which merge into an Atari beat, it evolves into both the album's most delicate and the punchiest song. I don't know if I'm even coming close here, but really, it works beautifully.
By now, we expect Björk to be different, to be slightly odd and evoke images of fairies hanging out with aliens. But somehow, with little tricks like recording music boxes and using her own vocals to create an enchanting call and response, she continues to rise above our earthly expectations. Vespertine affirms that we can rely on artists to get better and to pull us into each new obsession they discover. And as for Björk, she just happens to be an artist who has mastered progression and transformation.
If you like Bjork, check out:
Bjork Homogenic
Bjork Selmasongs
Air Moon Safari
Nightmares On Wax Carboot Soul
-- Lori Latimer
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