(Besides the intro paragraph that was written as of today, Aug 18 2023, all of the writing were written from Aug 1 - Aug 28, 2021.) One of Icelandic's most well-known musicians and one of the most intriguing, creative, and boundary-pushing artists in the scene since the 90s. Through the MTS discord server and their kept-up events, 'monthly artist dive', I've steeled myself to get into the nitty-gritty of each and every one of her albums (with the exception of Fossora, which was released in the 2nd half of 2022), especially as a personal fan of her work and her creative process as a musician, a writer, and a well-thought individual.
A lot of retrospective and interview reading was done in order for me to fully immerse and appreciate her work even more. While it's gonna take me a while to do another kind of heavy work like this, let's see where It'll take me in the future. Going through the event was really fun, and a lot of adoration for Björk's masterful command of emotions, wit, and sonic formations has elevated a lot since this event. Hope you enjoy the reading!
Debut
Going back to Bjork's discography, 'Debut' reveals her bountiful expression as a solo artist.
Going back to Bjork’s discography once more for the ‘monthly artist dive’ event over at the Mic The Snare discord server made me quite excited. I’ve been trying to make a detailed discography ranking of Bjork’s material for a year now, but I just don’t have the time to get into it. But now with this month's dive will focus on Bjork’s catalog, I can’t miss an opportunity like this again considering just how much I absolutely adored Bjork’s albums for years.
Rolling back to her “debut” album aptly titled ‘Debut’ was her first solo album after The Sugarcubes disbanded and technically her sophomore record if her self-titled record was included in the mix. It’s easily her most accessible and convenient record to date, where most of the sounds captured in this record focus more on the house-tinged production with some tracks leaning more for a trip-hop and sometimes plain acoustic palette. Even with said convenient sounds, Bjork does manage to make use of it to make these her own and adding her vocal spelunkers that make it her signature going forward. It also helps that Bjork uses this accessibility as a songwriter to put her own simple yet compelling take on the yearning and complexities of love and the celebration and odes of the world and her friends around her.
I absolutely loved the down to earth ballads of ‘Like Someone In Love’ and ‘The Anchor Song’, the trip-hop shuffle of ‘Come To Me’, The bouncy house production of ‘Big Time Sensuality', the whirling progressions of ‘Violently Happy, and that magnificent eastern instrumentation of ‘Venus As A Boy’
If there is an issue that I have with this record, the production and some melodies don't get all the way there for me, and the momentum can start to crumble once you get to the back half of the record when the pacing starts to become a bit more fleeting and the melodies dribble off to linger on the background.
But besides that, Debut is a pretty good record for Bjork to explore in different sheens of sounds that she will be exploring in her future albums. While the production, and the pacing starts to fall apart quite a bit, there is enough bulk in Debut that still stuck to this day. It’s a send off and a brew for Bjork’s eclectic instincts that will show off in her future records.
Favorite Tracks: Human Behavior, Venus As A Boy, Like Someone In Love, Violently Happy, The Anchor Song, Come To Me Least Favorite Track: Crying
Post
Not long after her debut solo record, Bjork expounds on her adventurous and inventive streak on her sophomore solo record, 'Post'
After Debut, Bjork journeyed and lived in London for about 2 years for the recording of her sophomore solo album. And the process was quite adventurous, going to the clubs and finding the sort of electronic music and listening to the DJs set that plays during early sunrise while also managing to find contact with other producers for her sophomore album. Producing the album with help of said contacts. Recording in the Bahamas with a sense of adventurous streak that’s always found in Bjork, extending the microphone cord in order for her to sing and record her vocal lines close to the sea or yet inside a cave. Working on said recordings yet again once she returned to London that included re-recording past recordings while arranging, producing, and making new songs during the journey.
And what was put together during that process was Post, her sophomore album, considered an “after” album by her due to the isolation from her home country while also referring to the continuous concept of celebration of life, where this time the sounds and blueprints of the city have further indulged Bjork, and it’s also one of those records that I keep going back to again and again.
26 years since it’s released, I’m still amazed by how the production still holds up. It still does tiptoes within art-pop, trip-hop, and subsets of electronic music, but it’s more expansive and fully realized. This also goes towards Bjork herself as a performer and a poet, because while Debut celebrates the moments of life in an observative, introverted spirit with the more conventional but still potent acoustics and house cuts. Post is Bjork consuming the city around her, and that consumption allows her to be more extroverted, adventurous, playful, and even commanding with this sound palette that sounds broader and curious.
It might shift towards different genres from song to song, but Bjork is a genius at crafting the balance between the electronica and the organic that felt futuristic and ahead of the curve. ‘Army Of Me’ is a great opener that opens up with these quaking and pounding drums that are even more elevated with Bjork’s commanding vocal lines. ‘Hyper-Ballad’ is indeed a hyper-futuristic ballad where said electronic and orchestral moments merge together to highlight the dramatic lyrics. ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ is such a wonderful jazz cover where Bjork's playful side sparks in varying degrees of feral joy. And ‘Isobel’ is the most orchestral and curious song of the album, where it really presents the free-flowing yet emotionally potent tones of this album.
As a whole, Post is a grand leap of faith for Bjork. A courageous and adventurous record that keeps showing Bjork at the cutting edge. Absolutely wide-opening, one-of-a-kind, and inventive albums even to this day.
Favorite Tracks: ALL OF THEM
Least Favorite Track: N/A
Homogenic
'Homogenic' is one of Bjork's emotionally urgent and visceral albums to date, but only certain tracks transcend.
Ever since ‘Post’, the creation process of her next album was the most tumultuous time of Bjork’s life. After going through a physical altercation with a forceful reporter, multiple breakups with certain creatives that helped her work on ‘Post’, as well as a disturbing stalker that sent her an acid bomb in her management, she fled to Spain to finish said next album.
And that album is ‘Homogenic’, which she described to be inspired by the landscapes of her home country, Iceland. It’s also her most sonically consistent album so far, and one that received a lot of praise for delving down to her experimental flourishes in electronic music that she paired with orchestral elements in wondrous fashion… But it’s not an album that I praise highly as others do.
It is quite surprising for me up to this day, because this record is her most alarming, confrontational, and visceral album to date. An album that recoils from the adventurous excursions of ‘Post’ and where the grandeur of emotions that came from the consumption and the dangers of the city circulates to the forefront in the production, performance, and especially the lyricism. There are great highlights in this album that manage to stand as some of Bjork’s best and intense songs to date. ‘Pluto’ shows to be one of Bjork’s angriest and alien songs so far, a release of layered emotions that comes up with the palpitating beats, swirling atmospherics, and Bjork’s sleuthing voice that works up in a paralyzing scream. ‘Joga’ serves to be the urgent and outreaching songs in the album, filled with pounding percussion, majestic string swells, and Bjork’s mountainous vocals that make the song feel bigger. Like the title suggests, ‘Hunter’ is the opener that searches, filled with curious backing vocals, rapid drum fills, string movements before it opens up and lunges in full force. And ‘Bachelorette’ is a continuation of ‘Isobel’, an epic grand saga that details and encapsulates the confronting and visceral emotions with layered strings and drum beats that comes as theatrical and dramatic in the best way possible.
But despite those soaring highs, comes the rather disappointing aspects of the record. Where certain synth tones don’t work well with me, melodies that just felt clumsy and repetitive, and where the gargantuan production doesn't come off as impactful as I wanted it to be. Songs like ‘Unravel’, ‘Alarm Call’, and ‘All Is Full Of Love’ might have grand textures, but the drooling pace of these songs, unfortunately, makes them sound lacking elsewhere. The bit tune-sounding synth on ‘5 years’ doesn't mesh well with the blasting drums. ‘Immature’ has the most repetitive melodies that really don’t work with the production. And ‘Alarm Call’ with its blurry looping soundscape amidst a steady beat that keeps switching up just ends up being disjointed.
I still find scratching my head over this, even after I re-listened and appreciated the mark that this album has. It’s visceral and emotionally grand, but only in certain songs. The production is inventive and gargantuan, but with how some of these songs are slowly paced, it falters and disjoints in odd ways. But even when I’m on the outside looking in, the highs still transcend, and I’m fine with that.
Favorite Tracks: Pluto, Joga, Bachelorette, Hunter
Least Favorite Track: Alarm Call
Vespertine
After the emotional urgency of Homogenic, Bjork recoils back to her introversion, and puts out her chilly, otherworldly, and intimate 'Vespertine'
Bjork’s output after Homogenic was quite busy, acting on Lars Von Trier’s ‘Dancing In The Dark’ while also composing its soundtrack. But after that, she worked on her next project. Described as an escapism on your own paradise as well as inspired by Napster, where she recorded and produced her tracks on her laptop in her own private home. Only recruiting Matmos and Zeena Parkins to help out in her next exposition in her career. Regarded as one of her best works to date, and one that I should’ve appreciated more in the past.
Yep, Vespertine. Regarded as one of her best works in her discography, one of her introverted, glacial, lovestruck, and personal records to date. And indeed, I do love this one. Unlike Homogenic, I think her experiments landed more with better dividends here, due to how most of the tracks ended up oozing with layered and whimsical experimentation from Bjork. Her vocals lean more to hushed and intimate whispers while balancing out her restrained but still powerful singing, paired with glacial and larger-than-life production from Bjork with help from Matmos. Both of which emphasize the topics of love and desires of deciding between personal desires and the partner's desires.
While yes, the flow can feel a bit bumpy especially at the start and at the end. It doesn’t really lose that much especially when a lot of these tracks just wash over you with Bjork’s vocals, lyricism, and production. The reserved but intimate tones of ‘Hidden Place’ are still a majestic way to open the album. ‘Cocoon’ is an acquired taste for some, but the hushed vocals and the plopping micro beats are just magnificent. ‘Pagan Poetry’ weary production that swoops upward to greatness. ‘An Echo A Stain’ is one of my favorites here due to the haunting mist from the choirs and Bjork’s hushed vocals. The same goes for ‘Harm of Will’ with its wisping melodies from the violins and music box. And ‘Unison’ is a great closer, blooming production and atmosphere that works well with Bjork’s desire to unite with her partner at the time.
Yeah, Vespertine grew on me. It’s a phenomenal record that really pushes Bjork’s intimate writing to newer heights due to the production and her vocals. Again, the flow can get bumpy from the start and end but hey, Bjork is at it on the cutting edge once more.
Favorite Tracks: Hidden Place, Cocoon, It’s Not Up To You, Pagan Poetry, An Echo A Stain, Sun In My Mouth, Harm Of Will, Unison
Least Favorite Track: Heirloom
Medúlla
Going through her ambitious phases in her career, Bjork perfected her vocal tinged concepts with 'Medúlla'
After the expansive wells of her earlier works, which I consider as some of her passionate, and emotionally potent albums that push through avant-garde tendencies while still keeping a disciplined grasp towards song structures and melodies, as well as caving in and delving further into her wondrous sensuality through her writing. Her releases after Vespertine will be something else. Pushing her comfort zone and ambitiousness towards different leaps and bounds. And this next album after Vespertine is something else, originally conceptualized as an a capella album, inspired by the events of 9-11, and brought along different vocalists of different places to bring along their contributions into this album. And after a few years of listening to it especially today, it’s one of the best albums that she has conceived in her career.
That album is Medulla, one of the most ambitious albums in her career as she manages to make the a capella concept work in spades. A unity between nature and humans, beings of different places, the present human nature and their past ancestors, and mother and her child that is encapsulated by the simple but still palpable writing and the compositions themselves that were able to mesh these different vocalists and tones in remarkable ways. The commanding ‘Where Is The Line’ with its chopped up and ballsy beatbox edits, the heavenly choirs of ‘Vokuro’, the swooping swells of ‘Oceania’, the vocal harmonies of ‘Submarine’, the jerky yet jaunty closer ‘Triumph Of A Heart’, and the contrasting throat singing of Tanya Tagaq and the singing of Bjork amidst a spare piano in ‘Ancestors’ is just some of the transcendent songs that she has ever done so far.
It truly is an experience. An album that’s just nothing else out there due to its a capella focused concept that brings along different tones and styles of vocals that shouldn’t work but did manage to work. One of Bjork’s breathtaking masterpieces in her career, and an influential one at that.
Favorite Tracks: ALL OF THEM
Least Favorite Tracks: N/A
Volta
Pivoting towards political themes with 'Volta' comes up short of sharp nuance.
If you think that Bjork will delve down on those political references on Medulla, this next album doubles down a bit on that political context. Bringing along Timbaland for production along with other instrumentalists to bring in that ‘tribal’ and ‘pop’ sound, as well as saying that this is a looser, extroverted record that she wants to have fun with? So be it. But, this is the time where her material starts to fumble, even with her experimentation with the sonic palette and thematic topics still are there.
That album that most people didn’t love as much as her next album on her discography, Volta. Look, while there are moments that do work quite well here, like the string instruments on ‘Pipa’ and ‘My Juvenile’, the wonky production of ‘Innocence’, and especially the politically charged rage on ‘Declare Independence’ which is my favorite song here. But for the most part, my problems do surround with the pacing, the brass instruments, and the lyrics themselves. The brass instrumentation on this album just felt so thin and chinsy, it doesn’t really mesh and cultivate with most of these songs because of how of that brass tones. Certain songs felt pretty long and shouldn’t really need to be, especially when these songs will just end up feeling bland as a result. And thirdly, Bjork’s lyrics just felt lacking. It more focuses on her children and seeing them grow up more than the political context, and it could’ve been just that. Because when she does swerve into politically leaning content, it’s mixed. Besides ‘Declare Independence’ who does manage to hit that political rage in her country, most of the politics just come off as unfocused, and it doesn’t really mesh well with the thematic text surrounding her children. And if it doesn’t sound unfocused, it sounds pretty naive, especially with the song ‘Hope’ where she talks about a suicide bomber, and it just comes off quite rushed.
At the end of the day, I think this flubs in so many different ways. The brass instrumentation sounds thin, the lyrics feel naive and unfocused, and certain songs don’t need to be that long. Besides a few tracks on this album that are good, most of it just loses me.
Favorite Tracks: Declare Independence, Innocence
Least Favorite Track: Hope
Biophilia
In 'Biophilia', a passion project of multimedia diversions ends up less adventurous and more indulgent in concept rather than the execution.
After what seems to be a step down of Bjork’s quality streak with Volta, she’s moving forward with her next album that puts her ambitions to new heights. Heights that step beyond music, and tangling it down with other artistic media that will strengthen the cores that will connect both nature and technology, where 10 songs have an innate musical motif and an intellectual idea that will connect science and music itself. But sadly, despite the extra efforts, it still is my least favorite album by Bjork in her lengthy career.
Said album is Biophilia, a passion project by Bjork interspersed into different media such as the album, documentary, iPad application, and other sorts of ambition that is a respectable feat but ultimately does not save just the meandering and underwhelming aspects of this album. Part of which comes with the delicate but meandering melodies, sparse and fragile instrumentation that indeed is complex in its compositions and creative with certain applications of uncommon instruments, but should’ve felt more interesting than it should be. And the other part of my underwhelming feelings towards this album is the themes themselves, which do consistently tackle different parts of nature meshed in human emotions, but they’re too sparse, abstract, and too loose to make them connect, which is why I described it as a passion project because it focuses more on high-concept ideas rather than focusing on the musical aspect that should hit better and nuanced than what Bjork has presented here. There are still tracks that do manage to work well in their strides, like the overtaking instrumentation of ‘Virus’ as well as the palpable eruption of ‘Mutual Core’, but the rest are just too languid and too immersed in its time signatures and uncommon instrumentation.
It’s a passion project that should work well, especially with an artist like Bjork. But she seems to forget her principle of being free in experimentation yet disciplined in melodies and song structures. While some tracks stick, the rest is disposable.
Favorite Tracks: Virus, Mutual Core
Least Favorite Track: Dark Matter, Thunderbolt
Vulnicura
Reeling back to her emotive roots, 'Vulnicura' presents the simplest yet emotive cores that comes from heartbreak, for Bjork especially.
In Bjork’s career thus far, we have seen her go through multiple phases in her discography. Sometimes introverted, sometimes extroverted, sometimes ambitious, sometimes dramatic, but never heartbroken. It’s a side of her that she hasn’t unfolded yet, until her relationship with her longtime Matthew Barney ended. This results in her next album focusing on said heartbreak, embracing the singer-songwriter approach that she described in her interviews as well as pulling away from most of the indulgent ambitions and tampering it down to simple, yet heartwrenching violins and electronics. And going back on this album for years now, it still holds up.
Vulnicura, Bjork’s very own heartbreak album, detailing the breakup in a chronological manner with dates stamped into the first 6 songs that note the months before and after the breakup and detailing how said breakup also extends towards Bjork’s pain and fear of death in her family, and how she’s going through this pain, she stills latch on to it in order to get through the light and doesn’t forget the relationship that she has with her partner. Even the simpler, down-to-earth scope of this album doesn’t sacrifice the emotions and uniqueness that Bjork showcased in this record, where her vocals are more elongated and clarified to show a sense of strength amidst that pain, the strings and electronic beats further imbuing the emotions to a stinging sorrow, and with Arca and The Haxan Cloak brought into the mix they manage to make the textures expansive and gut-punching. Some of my favorite songs here come with ‘Family’ with its tormenting strings before it washes away for a peaceful ending, the wondrous swells of the strings in ‘Stonemilker’, ‘Notget’ with its tragic strings and beats, the elongated sorrows of ‘Black Lake’, and skittering electronic percussion that ends off ‘Quicksand’.
In short, Vulnicura is a return to form for Bjork. Where she uses this simplicity to form intricate wells of sorrow and pain but is still able to find the light at the end of it. It’s one of the albums that really introduced me to Bjork, and as it stands, still is remarkable.
Favorite Tracks: All of them.
Least Favorite Track: None of them.
Utopia
'Utopia' comes out of that darkness and unravels through utopian landscapes.
And here we are, from her debut solo to her recent album at this moment. A contrasting light from the darkness, from pain to love, darkness to light, dystopian to utopian. Described to be a ‘tinder’ record that explores her newfound freedom to approach new lovers while still feeling dimmed on the specters of that heartbreak. And with the help of a certain YouTuber, this album is my introduction to Bjork’s body of work as well as making me a fan of the concept of utopianism, so let's get to it.
Her recent and lightest record to date, Utopia. This album was the one that put me into Bjork’s adventurous and avant-garde set of albums. A contrasting companion to Vulnicura as it switches out the darker wells of instrumentation for birdsong and flutes, which I admit is really up my alley. For the most part, this album succeeds at what it’s trying to do, but the bloat, and certain production and certain thematic flubs do hold this back from being great, especially on the back half where the compositions and production tend to be languid, choppy and not as lush as the first half, the melodies that don’t strike as sharply as Vulnicura, and the utopian themes that gets pushed away for a disjointed pivot towards patriarchal slams and custody charges, which can make the utopian themes feel a bit hollow because of it. But still, this album is too unique with its utopian romance over music, and the frequent touches of birdsong and flutes are just achingly beautiful. The bombastic tones of ‘Arisen My Senses’ that opens up the album, the intimate harps of ‘Blissing Me’, the transcendental progressions of ‘The Gate’, the 9-minute behemoth that is ‘Body Memory’, the spelunking whirls of ‘Courtship’, that crushing industrial beat of ‘Losss’, the gratifying flutes of ‘Saint’, and that utopianistic closure that is ‘Future Forever'.
It is not a perfect record, but Bjork is still at the cutting edge with her sonic palette, her thematic concepts, and the overall utopian tone that I admired that much. While I’m pretty eager to hear where she is going next, I’ll let myself indulge in this utopia just for a little while.
That goes with my MTS-cord dive of Bjork, a fascinating and influential artist that broke ground for good reasons, and thanks to me finally getting into her records is the part where my curiosity over discovering music really peaked. Going through her records now knowing the process and details over their creation is really welcome, I will be doing more of these soon enough.
Favorite Tracks: Courtship, Losss, Saint, Future Forever, Body Memory, The Gate, Blissing Me, Arisen My Senses
Least Favorite Track: Sue Me