release date: Aug. 30, 2004
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: Björk
label: Elektra - nationality: Iceland
Track highlights: 1. "Pleasure Is All Mine" - 4. "Vökuró" - 6. "Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)" - 8. "Desired Constellation" - 9. "Oceania" - 14. "Triumph of a Heart"
5th studio album by Björk is a primarily self-produced album - Mark Bell is co-producer on tracks #3, #7, and #9. The album was originally released by One Little Indian (by Elektra in North America). Although, a new studio album by Björk always means a new sound texture, this is quite unusual for her as it's almost entirely made up of a cappella compositions and by large choirs - The Icelandic Choir on six tracks and The London Choir on track #9. It also feature several guest artists including Inuit throat singer Tagaq (tracks #1, #6, #11, and #12), vocalist Mike Patton of Faith No More (tracks #1 and #3), and Robert Wyatt (tracks #7 and #9)
The album generally received positive reviews and brought her critical acclaim as well as several prize nominations, however, I have never enjoyed this particular album that much. Yes, it contains a number of fine songs but no really truly memorable ones, and as a whole, I think the more experimental compositions dominate an album, I mostly think of as slightly - I dare say 'boring', simply, by being a mere formative release, which again makes me ponder on the word 'pretentious'. It's like one long voice experiment playing with tribal and throat singing, which in the end becomes less inspiring.
I consider this her first in a series of three consecutive and formative albums without strong appealing traits. So why don't I rate it lower? Well, first of all, it's still clearly above mediocre (2,5 on my scale), and then Björk is an artist who dare experiment and most of the time she actually succeeds in making ground-braking new music because she's an artist who dares taking the big leaps. Here, she may likely satisfy critics and fans by doing the near 'impossible' - she expands the borders of popular music but it also takes a lot of willed attention to digest. She is up front when it comes to rethinking popular music, and this time, she's just off target from my perspective, although, she's still producing new music instead of just replicating formulas, and that takes courage. Björk is in that regard like Zappa - someone who is recognised as a great composer and an important personality when it comes to rethinking modern music.
Not really recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]
