Björk hasn’t released anything for nearly two years
now. She hasn’t been inactive though. After touring intensively
following the release of Homogenic, she went
on to play in Dancer In The Dark, musical movie
written and directed by Lars Von Trier, in which she portrays
the mother of a blind kid. This role won her the best
female performance award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,
and the film got the Palme d'Or. She now comes back with
the soundtrack from the movie.
Selmasongs is an epic collection of beautifully
crafted songs, where electronic and string sections create
a perfect intense bed for Björk’s magnificent vocals.
Mark
Bell, who gave Homogenic its electronic edge,
is once again in the driving seat. Once again, he gives
to the songs a very mechanical feel. In Cvalda
for example, Björk’s lyrics and Bell’s noises complement
each other in a peculiar way. This time round though,
Bell’s electronica is more discreet than on Homogenic,
and gives more space to the strings.
A very Björk-esque Catherine Deneuve greets Cvalda,
but the most impressive collaboration here is I’ve
Seen It All, an astonishing duet that the Icelandic
Diva interprets with Thom Yorke. Rarely voices have worked
so well together, and the tongue-in-cheek lyrics, in turn
naïve and cynical, won’t fail to make the listener
smile.
This record is full of little surprises. 107 Steps
sees Björk singing numbers, onomatopoeia adds to
the mechanical feel of Cvalda, and New World
is an orchestral masterpiece. Björk is an intense
artist, and, despite the disputes and fights with Von
Trier, she has produced a magnificent soundtrack for this
brilliant movie.
5/5 |
