Everybody has two or three artists or bands with whom we fall in love at a relatively young age. For pre-pubescent boys, at least one of these is usually a girl. My girl was Björk. I discovered her around the time of Post, her second studio album released in 1995, when I was a 10 year-old happy go lucky scamp. She was laughed at in the media, and labelled as a kooky Icelandic pixie due to her eccentric behaviour around this time.
My obsession grew in 1997 as I saw her live and with the release of Homogenic, one of a number of albums released in that year which shaped my musical taste, I was head over heels. Homogenic saw Björk experimenting more with dance beats, but making them sound beautiful, which I had never known before. 2001's Vespertine was another departure - ditching the beats, she employed Matmos and the result was a pretty, chiming, intricate work of art.
In 2001, she released Medulla, which is my least favourite album. WIth guests such as Rahzel and Mike Patton, the songs are made up only of human vocals, which, impressive as it is, means they lack something of Björk's usual warmth.
She returns this week with Volta, and like every other release, this is a Björk album that will certainly divide opinion. In a sense, this album is like all of her other albums rolled into one. The floating clouds of Vespertine [I See Who You Are] stand alongside the pumping beats first heard on Homogenic [Innocence], and the grandeur of Selmasongs, her soundtrack to the film 'Dancing in the Dark', released in 2000, can be heard in Dull Flame of Desire. The male voice on this track is Antony Hegarty, of Antony and the Johnsons.
Anyway, enough rambling. As you have probably guessed, I love Björk. Here are my two favourite tracks from the new record Volta, which is out now.
Björk [feat. Antony Hegarty]: Dull Flame of Desire
Björk: Innocence
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