Björk "Vespertine"
"Vespertine" sounds just as if Björk, after acting the tragic fate of
Selma in "Dancer in the Dark", discovered how good it is to be Björk
again. This could very well be the "themes-album of love-songs", rumoured
a few years ago. Love, both sexual and familal, is the overall theme this
time and the lyrics are more detailed, personal and mature than ever. This
will hopefully help the Icelandic singer to get rid of the image as the eternal
woman-child. A few years ago Björk claimed to make "music for
headphones in homes". With "Vespertine", the description is more suitable
than ever. There is no other place for listening to this album, than through
a pair of headphones, alone in bedroom isolation. Overall, this is an extremely
unobtrusive record and there are no up-tempo-tunes to be found anywhere.
Long gone is the flirting with techno and dance-music as well as the industrial
frustration from songs like "Pluto" and "Enjoy". Instead, this is fairy-like,
electronic ambient-adult-pop, with Disney-like orchestrations. The music
is richer in atmosphere and the arrangementsare more complicated than ever
before. The melodies are still unmistakeably Björk, though they may
not be quite as appearing as before. Though the music constantly varies from
experimental electronica to soundtrack-like orchestral/choir-arrangements,
the album is very homogenous, because of the overall calm and the frequent
use of harp (courtesy of Zeena Parkins) and music-boxes. Unlike the latest
offering from Sigur Rós, "Vespertine" doesn't sound genuinely Icelandic,
but rather as if it's originating from another world. This is the music you
hear when you meet elfins in the forest. Björk's lyrics may have matured
but she sounds even more fairy-like than before. "Vespertine" is just as
genuine as Björk's other records, though you could regard it as a female,
warmer and a lot more personal counterpart to Radiohead's "Kid A", without
the whining and self-indulgence. It's just as great as "Homogenic" and just
as wonderful and uplifting as an imaginative daydream. If you don't like
it, you don't have a heart.
Short descriptions of every track:
1. Hidden place
The album opens with a longer version of the first single "Hidden place", adding an extra verse. This is the song where the choir has the strongest prescense. The "Jóga"-remiscent chorus, also makes it one of the most direct "Vespertine"-songs. An obvious choice for a single.
2. Cocoon
"Cocoon" is even more unobtrousive and intimate than the album-opener. Björk whispers the explicitly erotic lyrics to a subdued organ, while the cracking of a vinyl-record, form a drum-pattern(!) in the background. Completely breath-taking and unlike anything Björk has done before.
3. It's not up to you
The third track, and one of the potential hits, from "Vespertine" opens quietly, with a strange drum-pattern, consisting of click-noises. When the vocals set in, the song gains more of a conventional Björk-character. Two minutes in, there's a beautiful sing-a-long-chorus and in the end Björk is assissted by a child-choir(!). The lyrics are dealing with the strong forces of nature, a very typical Björkish theme.
4. Undo
"Undo" is a sweet, minimalistic tune in the vein of "Cocoon", but this time Björk is assisted by a choir and a full-blown orchestra. In the end the melody-line is resolving into different layers of vocals. It's just as dreamy as beautiful.
5. Pagan poetry
This is my personal favorite "Vespertine"-song, much due to Björk's intense vocals and the beautiful chorus. "Pagan poetry" is very dramatic, which makes it stand out a bit from the rest of this very soothing, ambient album. This is also the song, where the harp has the strongest presence, which makes it a little bit remiscent of the B-side "Generous palmstroke". The high-light is when the final chorus is replaced by a strange passage, where Björk is singing to a choir of Björks, repeating "She loves him/She loves him" over and over. Beautifully haunting.
6. Frosti
"Frosti" is a two-minute-instrumental, played by a musical box. This beautiful, melancholic, folk-song-like tune is said to be named from one of Björk's friends.
7. Aurora
Björk and a harp once again. "Aurora" is what you might get if you cross Selma's rehearsing for "Sound of music" in "Dancer in the dark", with the minimalistic avantgarde-electronica of Matmos. The song is lifted by the choir, which joins Björk for the beautiful chorus. The lyrics are said to be about one of Björk's childhood-memories, when she was running on the top of a glacier, but fell on her knees. It describes how she put snow in her mouth to ease the pain.
8. An echo, a stain
This is my second favorite and probably the most experimental song on the album. It starts quietly with a haunting atmosphere of ghost-like keyboard-noises, assisted by Björk singing some loose phrases. The beautiful melody-line becomes audible as the orchestra and the Matmos-beat sets is. Björk's partly singing and partly whispering the vocals. This is just as moving as "Scatterheart" from "Selmasongs".
9. Sun in my mouth
"Sun in my mouth" starts as a harp/music-box-piece with Björk singing a poem by E.E. Cummings. In two minutes it builds into the record's most grandiose orchestral work. Very beautiful and soothing.
10. Heirloom
The melodic, uplifting "Heirloom" is the only "Vespertine"-song, that is throughout assisted by a steady beat. The tempo is still kept slow, though, as Björk sings a sweet lyric about being protected by her mother and son.
11. Harm of will
"Harm of will" is the lullaby on "Vespertine". It opens with Björk singing the album's most complicated melody to an unobtrousive symphony. As the song gains intensity, it builds into the second most grandiose orchestral/choral work on "Vespertine". This is very unlike anything else in modern pop-music. Ambient-opera?
12. Unison
The album's final is definitely the song with the strongest hit-potential. It has the most direct melody and tremendous movie-score-sounding arrangements that makes it sound like a somewhat of a further development of "New world" from "Selmasongs". During six minutes it builds into an orchestral/choral epic of untold gorgouseness. The lyrics are about seeking reunion after a long-drawn argument (could it be about Lars von Trier?;-)). A great ending to the best album of 2001!