My first exposure to Bjork (I know, I know …) A friend recommended it. The music on this album is all (?) produced vocally, with various technical and mechanical tools sometimes applied to create non-human-vocal sounds either as independent melodic lines or harmonically to support more conventional singing.
This is, to my ear, compelling “classical” music. Not structurally – I did not hear her using classical forms – but rather in the way she takes small sonic gestures and textures (a breath, even) and plays with them, making the resulting music sound both inevitable and surprising as they develop. It’s a kind of compositional wit that made me think she and Haydn would have had a lot to say to each other. [Edit to add: I just read a brief bio. She trained as a classical pianist and flautist before getting involved in the local punk scene as a teenager. Totally makes sense. I get her now.]
Any recs for which of her albums I should listen to next?
Definitely one of the high points in their catalogue for me too, along with Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull. Dylan Carlson was actually inspired to make this album after reading Cormac McCarthy’s brutal Western novel Blood Meridian - he even used some of the chapters as track titles. Most certainly deserves its widely held reputation as a masterpiece.
Just watched High Fidelity with John Cusack/Jack Black etc - great soundtrack. Heard the Beta Band’s “Dry the rain” and at the end of the film thought let’s play that.
