Bjork's new program "Vespertine" Total Victory or Total Failure?

Again, art = what you want + what you can do.

I think it's fun deconstructing her voice - we should all be deconstructing anything of interest that seems too difficult to deconstruct. that's like what we do!

From the same Pulse! article:

"...I know I just can't sing like anyone else, and I still haven't found a singer who I can say is my hero or who has influenced me. I...admire a lot of singers and how larger than life, how big they are, but I haven't got anything in common with them. Just the sound of my voice, to begin with, or what I've experienced, just my life in general - there's no way I could compare myself to someone like Edith Piaf, or Maria Callas or Ella Fitzgerald, because they're just too distant from me, and I can't really learn from them either."

So easily the best Bjork record.

"program"

this and Homogenic tie for my fav

i know, ha.

really, this just gets better every year.

(ha about "program")

wow mel w is so OffTM up there....yes, I think this is Bjork's best album; volta really pales in comparison.

Surely Post and Debut are more "saccharine" than Vespertine?

No way is this Bjork's best album; both Post and Homogenic are light-years better.

no

yes

Post is a little too broad in its sound and Homogenic has quite a few duds in it. Vespertine is like one long beautifully produced track, but maybe others would prefer more variety and scope. I just like how intimate it is.

What are the duds on Homogenic???

Can't remember. Somewhere near the middle, maybe? It gets a little choppy whereas Vespertine only tires near the end. I still really like it, though!

Vespertine is perhaps two tracks too long. otherwise, perfect.

Medulla aside, she's basically spent her entire career trying to recreate those two albums; I think a solid case can be made for them being the cornerstones of her musical foundation.

Maybe, but in that case Vespertine is the album Homogenic could have been. =)

It's really good, you should listen to it again. I just did.

Medulla aside, she's basically spent her entire career trying to recreate those two albums; I think a solid case can be made for them being the cornerstones of her musical foundation.

-- HI DERE, Tuesday, May 20, 2008 9:41 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

what albums are in imitation of Homogenic/Post?

maybe Vespertine/Volta? Just a guess. I'm not sure I agree though.

It's all to do with the colouring of the artwork

i would say definitely no for both of those.

ok

Volta maybe borrowed from some of Post's more sparse tracks, but that's all i can see.

All of them since Post and Homogenic except for Medulla, as I said in my post. She is constantly reusing the same compositional ideas, in terms of melody, harmony and arrangement; Medulla broke out of that because she was playing around with a capella and, as a result, she made something very different-sounding from the rest of her catalogue.

It's not a case of "album x is the new Post/Homogenic", it's that everything she's done since then has recycled those two albums.

That's sort of a depressing way to look at Bjork's career. I really hope it isn't true!

Keep in mind I like all of these albums!

But also I can't really listen to either of those albums all the way through without wanting to skip a track here and there, while I just listened to Vespertine twice all the way through.

i respectfully disagree! the only 2 studio albums after Post/Homogenic, excluding Medulla, were Vespertine and Volta, right?. and i have to say, notwithstanding melody/harmony/compositional analysis, i think they sound very different, and stand alone.

The amount of respect being shown here is heartwarming.

I mean the upshot of all of this is that I just spent a nice afternoon listening to Vespertine and wanted to tell someone about it.

i mean, maybe in terms of song structure -- she has a very consistent voice in that sense -- but in terms of overall style and textures, i think each album is quite unique.

hehe :) respect rules!!

i think medulla is an interesting companion to vespertine. they seem like two intentionally diverse approaches to her music; vespertine is a fragile, glittering crystal music box, and medulla is a heavy, club-swinging, somewhat hairy sounding thing. it's almost a female/male split, or heaven forbid, the yin and yang of her creative process. I think Volta attempts to merge these two approaches and doesn't do it exceedingly well; I think Homogenic was the (duh) homogenous beast these two albums grew out of. I just like Vespertine more.

but actually i can now see some similarities between volta and post... hmm

Medulla is hairy, but hairy like a woman

also the album artwork on vespertine is lovely. so is the artwork on medulla, i just never listen to it.

i love the vespertine artwork

and the artwork on Volta is horrible.

The Volta videos are outstanding, though.