Björk’s
seamless journey has always been a pursuit of the perfect
sound. Whether is was through incursions into jazz (Gling-Glo),
rock, with the Sugarcubes, techno with 808 States or
dark trip-hop with Tricky (Nearly God), she has patiently
assembled layer after layer of complexity to her music.
From Debut, commonly recognised as her first
major solo album, to the intricate textures of Vespertine,
her intense personality has always been central to her
work. Björk has never neglected the experimental
side of her music though, and has consistently had it
work to underline her natural emotional manifestos.
Listening to Vespertine, it becomes clear that
Homogenic, as remarkable as it was, was only
a necessary step further in her uncompromising quest.
The first
impression of Vespertine is, relatively speaking,
deceiving. The songs, wrapped in mutli-textural layers
of electronic noises and luscious orchestral whirlwinds,
don’t instantly reveal the abysmal depth of the underlying
emotional turmoil. This is not to say that Veseprtine
is a dark record. Quite the opposite in fact. The album
bears a lightness that her previous work had only touched.
What characterises this album is that, not only her
lyrics are alarmingly close to perfection, Björk
being one of these rare artists to shape the English
language to fit in around her own personal language,
but also that melodies are more finely chiselled, and
her voice is clearer, purer, than ever. Each song requires
patience and devoted attention to unleash the carefully
placed element on these complex structures. Vespertine
resounds as much from the unheard as from the obvious.
There are myriads of sounds to discover behind the choirs
of Hidden Place or Undo, the glitch
of Cocoon or Aurora, the intricate
beat constructions of An Echo A Stain or the
music boxes on Pagan Poetry or Harm Of
Will. Beauty emerges from the intimate atmospheres
as various components are brought to the surface, each
time different, making the listening experience a renewed
one time after time, at once enjoyable, exiting and
intriguing. The details of the production make Vespertine
a deeply unique record, unmatched in intrinsic beauty.
With Vespertine,
Björk has produced her most achieved record to
date, as she finally enters a universe unique to her.
Despite the highly technological feel of the arrangements,
it is Björk at her most human that we witness here.
5/5 |
