Vespertine

by

Björk

Edit

I find it hard to even begin to describe how wonderful this album is, but let me just say that I have never heard anything quite like this, even from Bjork herself. This is not techno, or dance, or big band, or industrial, or anything definable. There are a few hints here and there: Aphex Twin, Radiohead circa Kid A, Brian Eno, but where Radiohead came at the minimalist-techno from a rock-based direction, complete with drums and guitars, Bjork has come to a similar point but from a totally different tradition, that of classical music. The only really helpful benchmarks I can think of are two of her own songs from previous albums: "Possibly Maybe", and "All Is Full of Love", but even those can't begin to express Vespertine. My favourite songs on the album are "It's Not Up to You", possibly the first anthem of the new millenium, "Pagan Poetry", which has a stunning bassline and a chilly, immense power to it, the gorgeous "Aurora", which literally make me break down and cry (which hasn't happened from music for me in years), and "Heirloom", a new kind of pop song, and the closest thing the album has for dance music. This album is the most beautiful thing you will hear all year, and I am tempted to say that it the holy grail of electronic music: the first album to fully merge transcendence and radiance with avant-garde music.

Well, it's finally here. Bjork's follow up to her 1997 magnum opus, Homogenic. Homogenic definitely was one of the greatest albums of the 1990's, as well as being an extremely fresh and exciting piece of electronica. Bjork's seamless combination of strings and sweeping orchestrations was, to say the least, beautiful, chilling, warm, and cold. As the next decade begins, so does Bjork's quest to once again produce a work that stand out and defies all rules and limits. Is Vespertine it? Yes and No...

Vespertine is definitely a totally different work from Bjork previous albums. Her most reflective and quiet work, Bjork treads the lines of the likes of Brian Eno ambience and Kid A-minimalism (although it should be noted that Bjork's Homogenic seemed to have some sort of influence on Radiohead's album). There are some moments of ingeniuty that really shine on the album. The first track, "Hidden Place", has flurries of strings that really tickle the ear. The second track, Cocoon, although having a heavy emphasis on Bjork's child-like voice, and sometimes too much(there is a moment in the song where she breathes heavily into the microphone that is more annoying than pleasing),has little quirky sounds that resemble the pitter-patter of home appliances. "It's not up to you," one of my favorite tracks on the album starts with little, minimalistic beeps and bleeps that crescendos into a sweeping chorus. "Frosti" is another highlight and place where Bjork has never explored. Its chimey sound (a la use of a xylophone or something similar to it) is a pleasant, charming instrumental. And of course, Vespertine's last track, "Unison" is a beautiful and magnificent closer to the album. The seven-minute track slowly builds until an explosion of sound towards the end.

So why am I dissapointed with the album if I have written so many great and wonderful things about it? Simply because a lot of the tracks I feel as though Bjork is just tinkling around with several electronic sounds, creating no unison in the songs. Bjork used several different sounds on Homogenic, and somehow they all came together creating one brilliant sound. That's not aparent here, resulting in an album that is at many times unengaging. Tracks like "Hidden Place", "It's Not Up To You", "Pagan Poetry", "Frosti", and the last track, "Unison" are well arranged and unified, but that leaves seven tracks that just seem to meander and have no direction. Within each track, there will be one or two moments that I tend to love and cherish and say to myself, "Hey, that's wonderful!", but these moments are overall far and few on the album. This is the overall problem with the album.

Despite my overall dissatisfaction with Vespertine, I still claim that Bjork is the most inventive and ingenious female artist in music today. Even though Vespertine is not as groundbreaking as Bjork's early works, she still owns a unique and different sound that not many are able to duplicate, and for that she should be commended. Not to mention she has a voice that outshadows here contemporaries in uniqueness and beauty. I am slightly dissatisfied with Vespertine yes, but it is still a musical piece that lacks conformity compared to today's music.