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

...yes...yes...it is warm in the cavern of the Bjork-hayt0rz...and we have many delicious cookies besides...

Ha! I felt exactly the same.

But then, there's also good songs like "Pleasure is all Mine," "Mouth's Cradle," "Triumph of a Heart," "Sonnets / Unrealities" & the Robert Wyatt duet "Submarine."

I'll pretend "Desired Constellation" never existed, though.

i think it's bold to put some of those vocal noises on a "pop" record - it reminds me of some of kate bush's stuff on The Dreaming, but even more bizarre. also, those bloopy noises on that one track - where is the line with you? - are very reminiscent of some bloopy noises on The Dreaming.

and i just really like that bjork always leaves room for flaws in her music.

room for like total vocal failure. bjork has talked about how she has come to accept the fact that sometimes her voice "sounds beautiful, sometimes not so beautiful," or something like that. i feel like that sort of margin for error is apparent in pretty much all her stuff, in the looseness of some of the arrangements, but mainly in the cadence of her voice. it's not always perfect, and that's kind of the point. with that part of Medulla, i feel like she's driving the point home: total failure is its own artform. i love that.

total failure is its own artform

erm i don't think this is true, nor do i think it's anything that bjork has aimed for/'left room for' - most of her solo work has totally had a perfectionist streak about it! i don't think much she's done is any different to exactly what she wanted it to be.

granted, i do think perfectionism is very different from making it what she wants it to be. i don't know she wants her voice to sound perfect - i've definitely heard her say something to this effect.

I have! It's also awesome (and points out that the song itself is really really strong in addition to the renditions).

xp

I have! It's also awesome (and points out that the song itself is really really strong in addition to the renditions).

yes it definitely made me go back to the original and hear it with new ears - i'd previously thought 'oceania' was one of the more impenetrable tracks (compared with 'where is the line?' or 'who is it?') but it really isn't.

haha i've just remembered about 'ancestors'!!!

but it's always a compromise: what you want, and what your limitations are. i think bjork treds the line beautifully - in a sense, she is a perfectionist because her visions, whatever they may be in her own world, translate so well on record. on the other hand, to me, it seems like bjork has perfected a world of sound that isn't always perfect. that's how i hear it anyway.

What's that supposed to be mean?

I love Vespertine. I love the harp sound, I love the music boxes. I agree that the record emphasizes sound over songwriting, and it does wear a bit towards the end. Still, it has a lovely shimmering aura not unlike primo Cocteau Twins.

oh and that headphones song on post? now to me, there's an example of the beauty of the imperfect.

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.