Medúlla

Performer: Björk
Artist: Peter Van Hooke
Engineer: Bjork; Jake Davies
Producer: Bjork; Mark Bell
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: This is a DualDisc, which contains a CD on one side of the disc and a DVD on the other. Personnel: Bj�rk (vocals, piano, bass instrument, programming); Robert Wyatt (vocals, sampler); Mike Patton, Tagaq, Icelandic Choir (vocals); Nico Muhly (piano); Peter Van Hooke (gong); Mark Bell , Matmos, Rahzel, Valgeir Sigurdsson, Shlomo, Jake Davies (programming). It's hard to accuse Bj�rk of making music influenced by commercial or critical expectations at any point in her career, but her post-Homogenic work is even more focused on following her bliss, whether that means acting and singing in Lars Von Trier's grim musical Dancer in the Dark; crafting tiptoeing laptop lullabies on Vespertine; or, in the case of Med�lla, sculpting an album out of almost nothing but singing and vocal samples. The album's title and concept refer to the purest essence of something, and Med�lla explores both the ritual power of the human voice and some of the most essential themes of Bj�rk's music in a way that's both primal and elaborate. It took a large cast of characters to make the album's seemingly organic sound, including vocalists ranging from Icelandic and British choirs to Inuit singers to Mike Patton and Robert Wyatt; programmers like Matmos, Mark Bell, and Mark "Spike" Stent; and beatboxers such as Rahzel and the onomatopoeically named Japanese artist Dokaka. Several songs are sung in Icelandic, which works especially well, not only because it ties in with Med�lla's concept, but also because of the language's sonic qualities: the rolling Rs, guttural stops, and elongated vowels reflect the alternately chopped and soaring arrangements behind them. Neopaganism and unfettered sensuality also wind through the album, particularly on "Mouth's Cradle," along with meditative, Vespertine-like pieces such as "Desired Constellation." Med�lla is unusually intimate: Bj�rk's voice is miked very closely, and with the dense layers of vocals surrounding her, it often sounds as if you're listening to the album from inside her larynx. Some of the heavy breathing, grunts, and ululating woven into the album come close to provoking physical reactions: the eerie sighs and throat singing on the feral "Ancestors" make the chest ache and suggest a particularly melodic pack of wolves. Meanwhile, there's something simian about Dokaka's gleeful babbling and beats on "Triumph of a Heart." Despite its gentler moments, Med�lla's raw rhythms and rarefied choral washes make it the most challenging work of Bj�rk's career. "Where Is the Line" is one of her tough, no-nonsense songs, and Rahzel's hard-hitting beats make it starker than anything on Homogenic. Even relatively accessible songs, like the gone-native loveliness of "Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)" and "Oceania," which Bj�rk wrote for the 2004 Athens Olympics, have an alien quality that is all the stranger considering that nearly all of their source material is human (except for the odd keyboard or two). Actually, fans of world, contemporary classical, or avant-garde music might find more to appreciate in Med�lla than anyone looking for a "Human Behaviour" or "It's Oh So Quiet." It's not an immediate album, but it is a fascinating one, especially for anyone interested in the world's oldest instrument being used in unexpected ways. [Med�lla was also released in a limited-edition digipack with a bonus poster.] ~ Heather Phares With 2004's MEDULLA, Bjork's already distinctive musical vision is catapulted into another stratosphere. Using the mouth as the primary instrument--vocal, percussive, and otherwise--MEDULLA evokes the ethereal sound of an angelic spirit and a group of Benedictine monks desperately hurtling through outer space. "Pleasure Is All Mine" immediately establishes MEDULLA's haunting, yet strangely comforting, tone. On top of a distorted background of carnal breathing, the vocals of Bjork, Inuit throat singer Tagaq, Mike Patton (Fantomas/Mr. Bungle), and the Icelandic Choir combine with the rhythms of human beat-box Rahzel, building to an eerily ferocious intensity. The album, which also features art-rock pioneer Robert Wyatt, shifts back and forth between ambitious, operatically layered tracks ("Where Is the Line," "Desired Constellation") and more direct a cappella songs ("Show Me Forgiveness," "Oll Birtan"). Bjork reaches her peak when she combines both of these seemingly disparate forces, as in the electrifying "Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)" and the album-closer, "Triumph of a Heart." MEDULLA proves that, once again, when it comes to sheer musical audacity, Bjork knows no boundaries.

Rolling Stone (p.79) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "MEDULLA is both the most extreme record Bjork has ever released and the most immediately accessible....[With] and awe-inspiring architecture of sound..." Spin (p.111) - "On MEDULLA, her voice is in constant motion, in sync with the beat, rather than battling it..." - Grade: B+ Spin (p.65) - Ranked #19 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "She's a siren, luring us into the mystic with nothing but her voice." Entertainment Weekly (pp.161-2) - "[S]he'll soon have you shunning electronica....One of her best efforts..." - Grade: A Uncut (p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 - "It is the curious marriage of glottal outpouring and emotional candour to microscopically detailed and often utterly illogical arrangements that keeps her music vital and unpredictable." Uncut (p.76) - Ranked #41 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[A]n awe-inspiring achievement..." The Wire (p.55) - "MEDULLA breezes with a sense of serendipitous discovery, with Bjork singing as sublime as ever." CMJ (p.39) - "The beats of 'Mouth's Cradle' spit and sputter, sometimes as a contrast and sometimes as a perfect fit to the female choir that haunts the corners of the song." Mojo (Publisher) (p.93) - 4 stars out of 5 - "MEDULLA is not only the bravest record she's ever made, it's also one of the strangest and most uncompromising by a major artist to get a commercial release....[With a] raw beauty, intricate choral arrangements and decidedly outr� production..."

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25