{"id":40507,"date":"2007-09-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/volta\/"},"modified":"2007-09-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-25T00:00:00","slug":"volta","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/volta\/","title":{"rendered":"Volta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bjork\u2019s back-to-back-to-back classics of the 1990s, Debut<\/i>, Post<\/i> and Homogenic<\/i>, established her as one of the one of the most innovative voices in rock. Always the trailblazer, Bjork has largely decided to pursue her own muse in this decade. The result is an output that has been categorized by may fans as \u201cDebut<\/i>, Post<\/i>, Homogenic<\/i> and\u2026the rest.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest\u201d includes the beautiful, delicate 2001 album Vespertine, <\/i>the 2004 all-vocal Medulla<\/i> and the \u201cavant-garde even for Bjork\u201d 2005 release Drawing Restraint 9<\/i>. While in a live setting, many of the songs on these albums rival the power of her first three albums, listening to these albums can be a frustrating experience for those who crave the heavy beats and song-oriented nature of the earlier work. <\/p>\n

Early buzz on Bjork\u2019s latest album, <\/place>Volta<\/i>, seemed to hint that she was returning to the poppy structures that made her earlier works so beloved. Enlisting the help of Timbaland for a few tracks even gave a slight tinge of hope that the album would actually be a flirtation with mainstream radio. Indeed, \u201cEarth Intruders,\u201d one of the Timbaland-produced tracks, though messy, had an infectious, tribal beat that ushered in Bjork\u2019s long-hidden wails — a great introduction of things to come. <\/p>\n

Of course, coming from a fan, you greet these moments with trepidation. You relish the moment when an artist you love does a \u201creturn to form\u201d album. However, that euphoria quickly wears off as it sounds like an artist is retreading their tracks instead of continuing to stake out new territory — the very thing that made you fall in love with the artist in the first place. The last thing you would want an artist like Bjork to do is make Post II<\/i>. <\/p>\n

Fans looking for a \u201creturn to form\u201d album with <\/place>Volta<\/i> need only to hit \u201cWanderlust\u201d to notice that Bjork isn\u2019t making any efforts to reclaim the sound of her past glories. In addition to electronica elements, <\/place>Volta<\/i> features a choir, brass instrumentation and the inclusion of Anthony Hegarty for supporting vocals. While Hegarty\u2019s vocals are fine on their own, they are a total mismatch when paired with Bjork. <\/p>\n

Her experimentation has more misses than hits on <\/place>Volta<\/i>, especially in the song \u201cHope.\u201d With a rather lazy, middling song structure, the listener is drawn in to Bjork\u2019s lyrics regarding a suicide bomber. The lyrics are set up to have no clear-cut answers to the character\u2019s motives, but the lyrics are so clumsy, they come off as almost comedic. \u201cWhat\u2019s the lesser of two evils: If the bomb was fake \/ Or if it was real?\u201d Uh\u2026the former. <\/p>\n

Even the most politically-charged, musically enjoyable song on the album, \u201cDeclare Independence\u201d suffers from shoddy lyrics. Despite having a propulsive beat, Bjork\u2019s fierce declarations: \u201cStart your own currency! \/ Make your own stamp \/ Protect your language\u201d sound more like revolutionary stuff you would hear at a college party filled with freshmen English majors smoking bad pot. It also doesn\u2019t help that current critic darling M.I.A. is releasing tracks with more revolutionary vigor with beats that are twice as accessible and fun than what\u2019s on <\/place>Volta<\/i>. <\/p>\n

Like all Bjork albums, <\/place>Volta<\/i> needs a few listens to truly absorb. After a second listen, I liked the album more than my first listen. And there is something to be said about an artist who continuously prides herself on not revealing all of her surprises on the first listen. But an album has to offer reasons for a listener to return. <\/p>\n

Sadly, there are far too few moments here where this happens. Like Medulla<\/i>, <\/place>Volta<\/i> <\/i>is an album not to love, but to admire. From a distance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5732],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-40507","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bjork","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40507","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=40507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40507"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}