Well, Bjork found her vagina.<\/p>\n
That’s probably the best way to sum up
\nVespertine<\/i>, Bjork’s hyper-intimate 2001 release. Too graphic
\nof an intro? It’s difficult not to come away with that impression
\nlistening to the track “Cocoon”: “He slides inside\/Half awake half
\nasleep\/We faint back into sleephood\/When I wake up the second time
\nin his arms\/Gorgeousness\/he’s still inside me!!!” Bjork has never
\nmade straightforward songs, and for all I know, she could have
\nmeant for the song just to be about cuddling with your mate. But
\ndamn, that’s some vivid imagery.<\/p>\n
Imagery of bubbling kettles, percolating coffee and stretching
\ntundra (you can’t take the Iceland out of Bjork, no matter where
\nshe decides to live) dominate
\nVespertine<\/i>. In interviews, she said she intended to make an
\nalbum that celebrated the joys of domesticity. I guess it didn’t
\nhurt that she fell head-over-heels in love during the making of
\nthis album.<\/p>\n
It would seem like a logical step; each album Bjork has made up
\nto
\nVespertine<\/i> has been a near-landmark recording. With
\nDebut<\/i>, Bjork bid farewell to former bandmates the Sugarcubes
\nand enveloped the world of electronica and techno with a
\nmuch-needed weight of humanity. With
\nPost<\/i>, she turned around and threw down her own five-star
\nmasterpiece. The album was so good, a critic couldn’t even call it
\n“her Blood on the Tracks” or “her Nevermind.” The album had no peer
\nor precedent; it was a true groundbreaker. And with
\nHomogenic<\/i>, Bjork turned her scorned rage into a pulsating
\nfollow-up. Although not quite as good as its predecessors, it
\ncertainly didn’t embarrass itself and proved to be a great
\nfollow-up album.<\/p>\n
With
\nVespertine<\/i>, Bjork listeners braced themselves to be bowled
\nover once again. To get their ass kicked. To be mesmerized. But
\ninstead, Bjork often retreats into a whisper. Her voice is so
\ndelicate on
\nVespertine<\/i>, you half expect it drift away and disappear. I
\nkept revisiting the album, almost pleading it to grow on me, but it
\nnever fully sank its talons in.<\/p>\n
Bjork’s contentment in her personal life results in her most
\nstable album, and frequently her least interesting. One of Bjork’s
\ngreatest assets is her other-worldly voice. Her primal growls lit
\nup songs like “Enjoy” and made such general lyrics like “I’m so
\nbored with cowards,” sound like a stunning testimony. It also
\nhelped that she surrounded herself with great collaborators.
\nTricky, Goldie and Wu-Tang’s RZA are among the people who have
\ncontributed their skills to some of Bjork’s tracks.<\/p>\n
Bjork sings about going to “a hidden place” on the first track.
\nAnd the first thing she chose to hide was her voice. Now, devoid of
\nbeats and voice, the songs have to rely on her lyrical power — and
\non
\nVespertine<\/i>, it’s not enough to carry the album. It’s like a
\nTori Amos album with her voice buried in computer blips and white
\nnoise. It’s like a Tool album without the drums. I’m not saying
\nBjork should stick to a certain formula, but in this case, it
\ndidn’t completely work.<\/p>\n
Still,
\nVespertine<\/i> is a love\/hate album. Many fans either consider
\nthis her best album, or her worst. Few have ranked it in the
\nmiddle. There have been a few times that I have seriously enjoyed
\nthe album. However, most music needs the ability for a person to
\nidentify with the artist to be effective. And just when I think
\nthis album has grown on me, I’ll put
\nDebut<\/i> or
\nHomogenic<\/i> back on again, and both albums will blow me away
\nagain. Besides, I don’t think I can ever achieve the sort of
\nemotional bliss that Bjork saturates
\nVespertine<\/i> with. She has found happiness. Let’s hope she
\nfinds her voice on her next album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5732],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-37516","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bjork","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37516","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37516"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}