Album Title
Björk
Artist Icon Medúlla (2004)
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First Released

Calendar Icon 2004

Genre

Genre Icon Alternative Rock

Mood

Mood Icon Quirky

Style

Style Icon Rock/Pop

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Release Format

Release Format Icon Album

Record Label Release

Speed Icon Elektra

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Album Description
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En 2004 Björk enregistre Medúlla, un album entièrement consacré à la voix humaine, pour lequel elle s'entoure de plusieurs chanteurs et collaborateurs venus du monde entier.

Cet album constitue une rupture dans la carrière d'une chanteuse qui jusque là s'accompagnait toujours de formations musicales petites ou grandes, allant de l'octet à l'orchestre symphonique. La chanteuse a avoué lors de diverses interviews s'attendre à un refus du public face à ce changement radical. Au contraire, son album s'est finalement beaucoup vendu.

La quasi-totalité des sons de l'album sont créés par des voix humaines (bien que parfois manipulées et déformées). On y retrouve les voix de Tanya Tagaq Gillis, du human beat-box Rahzel, de Dokaka, de Mike Patton, de Robert Wyatt de Soft Machine. Une fois de plus, elle s'appropria des textes du poète E. E. Cummings, pour la chanson Sonnets/Unrealities XI.

En août 2004, la chanteuse est invitée à participer à la cérémonie d'ouverture des Jeux olympiques d'Athènes, où elle interprète Oceania, titre extrait de Medúlla. Elle porte pour ce concert une robe longue de 900 mètres recouvrant tout le stade et évoquant les vagues dans ses mouvements. Des images du clip, réalisé par Lynn Fox, sont diffusées sur écran géant.

En dehors de quelques performances, aucune tournée ne fut organisée pour Medúlla. Björk déclara que c'était pour continuer immédiatement l'écriture de l'album suivant. En juin 2004 elle déclara dans une interview pour le magazine Rolling Stone : « À chaque album que j'ai fait, au moment où je le terminais, j'étais encore très inspirée, et je pensais pouvoir réaliser encore un album en cinq minutes ; alors, je voulais juste savoir si c'était seulement une fantaisie ou si c'était vrai ».
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User Album Review
Björk's long-awaited Medúlla presented the Icelandic innovator with a challenge. Not only did she have to follow-up her breathtaking 2001 masterpiece Vespertine, but she also decided to do away with instruments. "I only wanted to work with vocalists," she proclaimed in a recent magazine interview.
No instruments? No problem. Welcome human beatbox artists Schlomo, Rahzel (of The Roots) and Dokaka. And many tracks still have a distinctly electronic edge, helped along by Björk's longtime collaborator Mark 'LFO' Bell. Björk also has the most powerful instrument of all at her disposal - her voice.
Fans will feel at home with the opener, "The Pleasure is All Mine", with those familiar trademark wailings and some pleasant Vespertine-like harmonies courtesy of an Icelandic choir. Many songs have a minimalist feel, such as "Show Me Forgiveness" and "Submarine" which features Robert Wyatt. The Icelandic "Vökuró" and "Sonnets / Unrealities XI" are full-on choral numbers with an almost religious tone to them. "Desired Constellation" is one of the more effective slow tunes, with Björk warbling over a background of delicate digi-noise.
It's not all simplicity though. "Where is the Line" is a mish-mash of ideas, sounding like a fight between a choir and a rack of effects boxes, with neither winning. "Oceania" too, which opened the Athens Olympics, is spoilt by some overenthusiastic vocal whoopings. An Inuit throat singer called Tagaq is also brought into the mix, whose contributions range from unnerving ("The Pleasure Is All Mine") to downright horrid ("Ancestors").
This is not a radio-friendly album. There are no "It's Oh So Quiet" moments here. The only really immediate tunes are the enjoyable "Who Is It" and the closing track "Triumph of a Heart" (listen out for the rather splendid human trombone on that one).
Medúlla has some high points, and it never gets boring, but it still left me feeling rather confused. It was recorded in 18 different locations, and you can tell - the end product feels disjointed and at times claustrophobic. Whereas previous albums like Vespertine were real growers, some people may lose patience with this one. The unquenchable desire to try out new ideas, which makes Björk such an exciting artist, may prove to be her downfall on Medúlla, as too much of the experimentation doesn't quite hit the mark.
But I still can't wait for her next album.


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