Bjork

Telegram

1996

Bjork's music benefits from an apparently great collaborative relationship she has with her producers. Simple tunes are transformed into modern dance wonderscapes, and the euphoria of her best work often overshadows the complexity of the tracks themselves.

For this album, she brought in several producers to remix tracks from her previous album (aside from one new song, "My Spine"), and she went so far as to rerecord many of the original vocals. The result is closer to a completely new studio album rather than mere "remakes."

Possibly Maybe: Remixed by LFO, this track sounds very different from its Post originator. Alien, electronically-treated vocals, and a loping, hazy beat transform this hopefully romantic song into a psychedelic, rainsoaked hymn.

Isobel: What was a noir-ish lament on Post is transformed into a smooth, acid-jazz groove by original fantasy-disco master, Deodato.

Bjork:
Vocals, keyboards

Homogenic

1997

Bjork had been hinting at the orchestral textures featured on this album since her debut. However, never before had she sounded as comfortable and assured as on this album.

The music is something like Enya might make with a little caffeine in her system. Emir Deodato (famous for 70s disco versions of popular classical and movie hits) arranged the strings for this album, and helps the singer create an effortlessly lush atmosphere throughout.

Hunter: First song on the album sets mood. Drum-N-Bass inspired rhythm and haunting strings with a vaguely impressionistic color. Sometimes the music steers perilously close to New Age, but Bjork's idiosyncrasies ensure a lively performance.

5 Years: Melancholy rebuke of a former lover. The album features several great rhythm tracks, and this tune's whiplash wallop is no exception. Synthesizers watercolor the track, and you end up with the kind of dreamy pop song Bjork is so famous for making.

Bjork

Mark Bell:
Drum programming, keyboards

Howie B., Marius DeVries, Richard Brown:
Programming

Guy Sigsworth:
Keyboards

Brodsky String Quartet

Various strings

2000

This relatively short release (around 30 minutes) feautures songs written through the eyes of Bjork's character in the film, a lonely Czech immigrant who is constantly dreaming of those old Hollywood musicals and showy production numbers. Although the album is nothing drastically new for Bjork fans, it is a welcome change from the average soundtrack hodgepodge of teen beats and stale scores.

Perhaps the only real disappointment is the lack of new ground being broken by Bjork, who seems to have made a career out of unexpected musical change. The tunes here are probably her most accessible, and the beats are generally not as radical or inventive as on Homogenic or Post.

Cvalda: It has the busy, unique rhythm tracks you know, and it even has the one-of-a-kind Bjork shriek, but stuff like this is a throwback to classic filmscores like West Side Story. Joyous, utterly showbiz arrangement builds up slowly, but explodes into some strange Broadway-come-electronica that seems close to classic Bjork.

New World: Every soundtrack needs a dramatic torch song, and this one fills the bill nicely. It's actually rather straightforward for Bjork, and wouldn't sound out of place on any number of Celine Dion albums. What really makes it (and especially it's instrumental version "Overture") so unabashedly cinematic is the orchestral arrangement, which is true Hollywood blockbuster soaking strings. You always knew Bjork was multitalented, but sometimes this gets a bit thick.

Bjork:
Vocals, celeste, arranger

with
Guy Sigsworth, Mark Bell, Vincent Mendoza, Mark "Spike" Stent, Thom Yorke