This is for our local 'alternative' newspaper,
so I've said some things blindingly obvious to
IDM'ers ...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Bjork "Vespertine" Electra 65653-2
A Bjork record is a always an eagerly anticipated
event. While her fans hunger for new material
to devour, the rest of us wait to see which
direction her irrepressible eccentricity has
taken her this time.
"Vespertine" marks another station on her journey
to perfect wackiness. Luckily it's much more
than that. Her songwriting -- especially
her melodic sense -- has never been better. There
are art songs here that could stand quite well
on their own, independent of the muttering, clanking
beats. "Cocoon" is sublime, though I can't imagine many
singers being as comfortable singing about falling
asleep in the midst of lovemaking.
Complementing the songwriting is perhaps the most
left field production ever to grace a major-label
release. Bjork's own laptop experiments are the core,
but she's also enlisted the help of electronic
producers Matthew Herbert, whose latest record "Bodily
Functions" is built on samples of noises made by the
human body, and Matmos, who most infamously sample the
sounds of surgery.
Unlike Madonna, who chooses her collaborators to
shore up her fading street credibilty, Bjork chose
her collaborators for their uncomfortably
personal production techniques. They complement her
hermetically self-involved themes of home and family.
While most might think computer production impersonal and
sterile, Bjork takes the contrary view -- nothing is
more personal than firing up the laptop, putting on
the headphones and shutting out the world.
Her voice throughout is a marvel of idiosyncratic
expressiveness, from a raspy, wavering whisper to pure
full-throated wail. It's contrasted and complemented
by the pure tones of an Inuit girl's choir and lush
string arrangements.
Perhaps the supreme oddity of "Vespertine" is that
it addresses home, family, and innocent love
without going slack. Most pop musicians who
find domestic bliss seem to run out of ideas;
Bjork seems to have found a whole universe to
contemplate from her kitchen table.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org