No, the soundtrack to Bjork’s film debut doesn’t sound much like
\nBjork, despite the fact that she composed and produced all of the
\ntracks with little collaboration. Her vocal methods are
\nrecognizable as is the ambient sparsity (or percieved sparsity) of
\nthe arrangements, but Bjork fans may be, not exactly disappointed,
\nbut surprised by the lyrics (that lean towards the conventional
\nside), the lack of layers and textures, and the presence of a full
\norchestra. And I’m not talking about the little string octet in
\n“Joga” on the album
\nHomogenic<\/i> but a full orchestra with an army of French
\nhorns.<\/p>\n
At the time of writing this review, the movie musical
\nDancer In The Dark<\/i> has not been released here in Thailand so
\nI can only give you its merits as an album in itself. And while it
\nis a substantial piece of work, it doesn’t have the feel of a
\nsolid, multi-layered, stand-alone Bjork LP… more like an
\nexcellently produced EP that comes with the movie. The Asian
\nrelease I have has only seven tracks.
\n(Editor’s note: The American release also has seven
\ntracks.)<\/i><\/p>\n
“Overture” is purely an orchestral track, which may sound boring
\nwith the first couple of spins, but once you’re familiar with the
\nmelodic themes running throughout the disc (just like in a musical)
\nit could easily turn out to be your favorite track on the album
\nwith its grand, subtle scale that seems to fill entire winter
\nafternoons. It sets the melancholic, almost melodramatic mood of
\nthe rest of the album that persists even through the most energetic
\nof dance numbers.<\/p>\n
Speaking of which is “Cvalda”, a dance number built over
\nindustrial sounds of machines clanging and banging, written for a
\nfantasy sequence Bjork’s character has in a factory (co-star
\nCatherine Deneuve also drops a couple of lines, not bad). The track
\nmanages to be hyper and almost chaotic, sounding like no Broadway
\nmusical dance number yet unmistakably full of sequins and dancers
\nin line. “In The Musicals” is a similar piece yet doesn’t quite
\nhave the textures of “Cvalda”, and it’s really one of those
\nsoundtrack songs that’s built for complementing what’s on the
\nscreen and not for standing alone.<\/p>\n
The centerpiece of the album is “I’ve Seen It All”, a duet with
\nRadiohead’s Thom Yorke, that carries the smoldering melodramatic
\ntheme of sacrifice and love. Interestingly, the version on
\nSelmasongs<\/i> is not the version that appears in the movie, if
\nthe video (a clip from the movie) playing on MTV Asia is to be
\nbelieved; the song in the video needs the context of the movie to
\nexplain the characters’ emotions, yet on the album the song can
\nstand alone. This brings to question whether the other tracks were
\nalso edited for the album, but here my Internet researching skills
\nfail me.<\/p>\n
“Scatterheart” stands out from the album as it sounds more like
\ninterior dialogue than a musical number (aria, dance number,
\norchestral interlude, etc.) and is closest to Bjork’s LP work, with
\nits cerebral textures and soundscapes. Yet it’s also weak as a
\nstand-alone track with its repetitious lyrics and enigmatic
\natmosphere, and needs the movie to explain its existence. “141
\nSteps” is also such a track as it only amounts to two people
\ncounting with some orchestral backup. I’m sure it’s stunning in the
\nmovie, but otherwise, the song misses a vital component.<\/p>\n
My favorite track on the album is the finale “New World” which
\ncombines the best of what this dark, hybrid album has to offer.
\nBjork uses the full strength of the central melody, the French
\nhorns are out again, and the entire finish is dramatic yet subtle,
\nso subtle you may be bored of the track on first listening. You’ll
\nbuy the album for “I’ve Seen It All” but you’ll keep listening to
\nit for “New World”.<\/p>\n
All in all, a strong album that falls a bit short (in quantity
\nand complexity) of a stand-alone disc. It requires a bit of
\nspinning, but Bjork is unlikely to disappoint her fans, and fans of
\nmusicals might have some interesting revelations as to how the
\npower of austerity and subtlety can be applied to musicals in a
\nworld where musicals are becoming increasingly bloated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5732],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36972","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bjork","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36972"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36972"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}