Music
Store

With "Vespertine," her newest album, the former lead voice of The Sugarcubes, Bjork takes her music to a new level. With five very successful, and progressively more experimental -yet more mature- albums under her belt, and an immersion into the acting terrain with her outstanding performance in 2000 as Selma, in Lars Von Trier's film "Dancer In The Dark" (the film for which her own album "Selmasongs" served as soundtrack), she comes back with a production that is far more peaceful, adult and introspective than her any of her past work.

This time the seat of producer has been taken by long-time BJork collaborator (with Keyboards and Programming) Marius DeVries, and a most eclectic selection of artists have been summoned by BJork making of this album a larger-than-life experience: California based electronica duo Matmos, jazz composer/arranger Vince Mendoza (same from 'Dancer In the Dark'), and harp virtuosa Zeena Parkins, just to name a few. It's very much like those albums from the seventies, such as the first solo efforts of Peter Gabriel, where the lead artist counted on the talents of several session musicians, but still retained the true essence of the creative genius.

Heavenly choirs like the voices of children or mermaids ('Hidden Places,' 'An echo and a stain,' 'Unison'), whispering lyrics (closing section of 'Pagan Poetry'), the sound of harps and strings, and an instrumental track ('Frost') serve as the musical framework to a set of very mature lyrics, to complete the musical spell of "Vespertine."

The entire album is a musical masterpiece, worth listening a thousand times, but my favorite tracks by far are: 'It's not up to you' (an instant hit), 'Pagan Poetry' (reminded me a lot of "Joga", from Homogenic), the groovy 'Heirloom' ("I have a recurrent dream, every time I lose my voice I swallow little glowing lights my mother and son baked for me..."), and the two closing tracks, 'Harm of Will' (with lyrics written by independent film director Harmony Korine) and 'Unison' -two of the most beautiful BJork songs I have ever heard.


Bjork's Vespertine is a WORK OF ART.   September 30, 2001
 37 out of 52 found this review helpful

When I first heard the CD I was a little upset that all of it was very mid-tempo unlike Bjork's previous work. I then started to listen to it at home which is a very intimate setting, and thats when this CD managed to touch a nerve in me. It starts out with "HIDDEN PLACE" which is an amazing song that has a choir backing Bjork up like many of the other tracks. The song is about receiving Love from someone and being confused of what to do with it. You want it so much and it is very special to you. As she says You want to hide it under a blanket and lull it to sleep. You want to take it to that Hidden Place where you and your lover can share it away from the world. The second song called "COCOON" is a soft song that sounds like it has rain drops hitting on your window pane, along with what sounds like a needle scratching a record. The song is about being intimate with a lover and being connected as one and the feeling of complete bliss while you both make love. The third song is one of the most inspirational called "IT'S NOT UP TO YOU" and it is a very inspiring song. The song is about longing for something that you may want or want to work out, but in the process you have no control over what will happen. This song makes you believe theres a higher power that has your destiny all ready set up for you. When you want things to work out in your life so much, but when they don't you get hurt just remember It's Not Up To You and it never really was. The fourth song on the album is called "UNDO" which is another inspirational song. The song is about how you sometimes try to hard in life and sometimes you just need to surrender, as It's not meant to be a struggle uphill. As she says It's about trying to be in a generous mode the kindness kind. The fifth song called "PAGAN POETRY" is an amazing song and one of the best on the album. The song has an amazing musical setting with strings and what sounds like a musical box. This song is very hard to describe. The song sounds as if though Bjork is trying to find answers to what makes her happy, and yet what she finds comes from the darkest pit inside her as if it was a sin or something dark like Pagan Poetry. It has Bjork talking about finding a blueprint of the pleasure in her, while she is in search a secret code carved with her answer. The sixth song called "FROSTI" is just an instrumental song that sounds just like a music box. The seventh song "AURORA" is another amazing song. This song has one of the most amazing beats by shuffling a deck of cards which starts out on 1 minute and 11 seconds in to the song and it is amazing. In the song Bjork talks about looking hard for moments of shine, and asking the Goddess Sparkle Aurora to shoot her beyond the suffer. Song number eight is called "AN ECHO. A STAIN" which has some awesome background sounds which sound like a frog croaking and a door creaking open. This slow song is hard to explain as well and it seems as it is about coming to terms with sometime of secret. Song number nine is called 'SUN IN MY MOUTH" and I have no way of explaining this song other than her asking if she will complete the mystery of her flesh. It seems as if though she is wondering if she will complete her mission on earth whatever it may be. Song number ten is another great song. It's called "HEIRLOOM" and it has an amazing bass line that will give any rap song a run for there money. The song is about how Bjork has a recurrent dream about her mother and son and how they make her feel so much better while she is in a state of sleep. Very strange but an amazing song. Song number eleven called "HARM OF WILL" is one of the most peaceful songs I have ever heard. It seems to be about a man being intimate with his lover while he takes control of her and the women pleasing him, while Bjork says it is I with her on knee. Bjork says he makes his face known to none, for if it is seen than all will know, all will know me. With lines like that how can you tell what her intentions in this song are. Song number twelve is called "UNISON" and this is another great song. The song is about how one can obey there lovers rules and still be themselves. It is a song about learning to compromise by being able to put your differences aside and being able to UNITE without having to fight. THis BJORK VESPERTINE CD is truly amazing and words can not explain as all of you know BJORK throws things from left field leaving us to ponder what it is she is trying to tell us. This CD is like nothing she has done before it is so personal, ad like she said it's very intimate and is one of those CD's meant to be listened to in a private setting in order to really appreciate it. Listen to it in your home, in your car alone or anytime you have time just for you. BJORK is an amazing artist and her music and videos continue to grow with her and follow her on her journey. Like MADONNA, BJORK continues to grow and be a step ahead of the rest.


The best album I've heard in years....   August 29, 2001
 25 out of 27 found this review helpful

I find it hard to even begin to describe how wonderful this album is, but let me just say that I have never heard anything quite like this, even from Bjork herself. This is not techno, or dance, or big band, or industrial, or anything definable. There are a few hints here and there: Aphex Twin, Radiohead circa Kid A, Brian Eno, but where Radiohead came at the minimalist-techno from a rock-based direction, complete with drums and guitars, Bjork has come to a similar point but from a totally different tradition, that of classical music. The only really helpful benchmarks I can think of are two of her own songs from previous albums: "Possibly Maybe", and "All Is Full of Love", but even those can't begin to express Vespertine. My favourite songs on the album are "It's Not Up to You", possibly the first anthem of the new millenium, "Pagan Poetry", which has a stunning bassline and a chilly, immense power to it, the gorgeous "Aurora", which literally make me break down and cry (which hasn't happened from music for me in years), and "Heirloom", a new kind of pop song, and the closest thing the album has for dance music. This album is the most beautiful thing you will hear all year, and I am tempted to say that it the holy grail of electronic music: the first album to fully merge transcendence and radiance with avant-garde music.


Not as good as Homogenic, but still quite amazing!   September 21, 2001
 13 out of 17 found this review helpful

Bjork's newer music is something of a pop music anamoly, since it's not always catchy immediately, but subsequent listenings reveal that the tunes are filled with hooks & catchy rhythms. Vespertine is Bjork's 2nd best album, after Homogenic, and it's probably her most approachable. The music is definitely classifiable as electronica, but it doesn't rely on heavy beats. There's not a drum to be heard on the whole album. Rather, the beats are apparently soft samples of ordinary household items, though they don't much sound like that either. The rhythms on this album are sound like a puppy clawing its way across linoleum. They're very subtle, and very soft. It rewards listening on the best set of headphones or stereo equipment that you have available (though ironically, Bjork said she's crafted the album intentionally to be heard via MP3 files on small computer speakers. This explains the lack of guitars & drums... those instruments don't translate well once they're compressed in the MP3 format). I'll give some impressions on the album's tracks...
1. Hidden Place - The 1st single off the album, Hidden Place has one of the more overt pop choruses on the disc. Bjork's vocals are some of the best on the album here, and the choir in the background make the expereince almost mystical. For a few seconds in the middle it almost morphs into a spacey dance tune. B+
2. Cocoon - This is one of the album's best songs, but it doesn't immeadiately reveal itself as such. The lyrics are seductive and sexually explicit, but the song's exceptionally tasteful. There's no insistence here. The song lets you come to it. By that, I mean it's got a tune, but you have to work for it a bit for it to emerge. The bleeps that make up the music are "soft" and make the music a perfect evocation of the lyrics. A+
3. It's Not Up To You - This is the most obvious "Pop" song on the album, but that's by no means a bad thing. The song's msucial build-up is impressive. The procession starts with an insular minimalism, but, by the finish, there's a boy's chorus and one of Bjork's most transportive melodies. A+
4. Undo - Most similar to Homogenic's "Insecure," this tune repeats it's key lyric ("It's not meant to be a strain / It's not meant to be a struggle uphill. ") like a mantra. The beats envelop us into the song, and it's one of the most accessible, since the whole procession is about the accessibility of the music. Bjork invites us into her world here, and we're glad to enter it. :) A
5. Pagan Poetry - Almost ominious in both its music and sheer confessional tone, this is one of the album's more immediately accessible moments. The song's stunning climax in which Bjork repeats "I love him" then resolves herself by saying "This time I'm going to keep him all to myself" feels like genuine soul searching. The emotion here is tangible and incredible. A
6. Frosti - An instrumental made on a music box that is fine, but doesn't rock my world. It's the first instrumental on a Bjork disc, and doesn't detract from the album's theme, but doesn't strike me as relevatory either. B-
7. Aurora - From the snow crunching at this track's start, Bjork invokes the spirit of winter and wishes she would meld with it. The song's vocals soar here. It's gorgeous... My only complaint is that this makes a more obvious album opener. A
8. An Echo A Stain - Somewhat scary, this track is almost an oddity on the album, but it's a great oddity. The lyrics again feel confessional, but here they're talking about something darker (a lack of communication perhaps? an unrequited love?) Bjork sings "Feel my breath on my neck & your heart will race" as if it's a threat, and when she says "Don't say no to me, you can't say no to me" we can feel the song's obsession as a tangible thing. Awesome. A
9. Sun In My Mouth - Pretty, but it's not something that manages to move me. The song builds to a crescendo, but it doesn't seem to invite me for the ride. B-
10. Heirloom - The moment on the album that most feels like a dance song, this is a solid tune. It's very accessible, but doesn't betray the rest of the album. Gentle, yet booty-shaking, it's an original. B+
11. Harm Of Will - Like Sun in the Mouth, pretty, but even more inscrutable. The lyrics are nonsensical to me, and significantly, Bjork didn't write them ( film director Harmony Korine did). C
12. Unison - Perhaps Bjork's best song ever. It's confessional, beautiful and epic. A+

Overall, an excellent album... Probably the best in 2001 so far. I am excited to be seeing Bjork for the 1st time at Radio City Music Hall in NYC in a few weeks, and am especially glad she'll be doing material of this calibur.


Her best album yet...   August 29, 2001
 12 out of 14 found this review helpful

"Vespertine" is Bjork's most intimate, organic, and accessible record since "Debut". It also may be her best. It lacks the epic experimenatal sweep of "Homogenic", but the songs are all well-crafted and tuneful. While it is accesible, there is certainly nothing boring or flat about the production. Each song is immacuately constructed and brilliantly recorded, full of tiny sonic details, breathy vocals and sweet melodies. In my opinion, it is the most listenable Bjork alubum... it is very low-key, almost a late-night record, definitely not for the dancefloor. It is a more introspective and melodic collection than anything she's so far released. It takes many of the best ideas from "Selmasongs", the strong pop-tunecraft from "Post" and blends them together with a laid back analog-sounding vibe. Easily one of the years best records. It's an album you'll want to hear over and over again, discovering something new each time.