 |
| Track list: 1. Moon 2. Thunderbolt 3. Crystalline 4. Cosmogony 5. Dark Matter 6. Hollow 7. Virus 8. Sacrifice 9. Mutual Core 10. Solstice Running time: 49 minutes Released: 2011 |
I cannot think what prompted me to pick this up. It is the only Björk album I own and listening to it will add 50% more plays of her music than I have accumulated in 8 and a half years on LastFM. I may be prejudging, but I would expect them to be the last scrobbles, too. I hope to be pleasantly surprised; to be wrong.
Plucked strings open us up, a reasonably nice tune if repetitive after a while. It's nice and soft, but the way Björk's voice is added to the mix fails to excite me. Rather than lifting the piece, it sounds to me as if it is at odds with the simple and soft backing. Almost too much emotion if you will. The structure of the piece leaves much to be desired and I find myself wishing for it to end at it makes half-way. The sparseness of the music is nice, but not nice enough to last the almost 6-minute length and the mismatch with the singing persists throughout. Not an auspicious start. Thunderbolt is more promising. Here the voice is less affected, less out of place. The support is still very light but there is a more atmospheric crucible formed by the electronic beeps and beats and this plays better with our singer's distinctive tones. I am still not sold on the track, but at least I think this one works at what it is trying to achieve. Moon felt like a failed experiment in comparison.
I must have figured and factored in the eccentricities of the performer into the decision to purchase this; a decision I still cannot quite fathom. I have never hated Björk in the way she was ridiculed after It's Oh So Quiet; there has always been a degree of interest in the compositions used to support such a distinctive vocal but almost an academic one, not an aesthetic one. I guess I must have been swayed by reviews of this release near the time and must have seen something about the composition to get me to come up with the cash. I am at a loss for what that might have been though, as now I am here listening there is very little that... huh. Breaking out into drum'n'bass eh? That is a twist I didn't see coming, although the majority of Crystalline's construction does, in retrospect, hint at the combustible end to the track. I don't like it, but it is interesting - and I was about to say interest was absent.
We leave the club sounds behind and go more sad movie soundtrack next. This song I like, at least initially. The track dies half way through though, which is disappointing. It revives a bit but never recaptures my interest enough to save it. One thing to mention is that this is an album of long songs - none are particularly overlong, but with 10 tracks the average length is around 5 minutes. Only one is less than 4 in length (I am glad that is Dark Matter as 3:22 feels too long for this... thing) and this does mean that it feels like a very drawn out experience. Not really what I needed on a wet afternoon.
Hollow is, well... well named I guess. The track feels very hollow, not much to it. I find myself resenting the fact I bought this disc not because I don't like it, but because tracks like this make me wonder what we are being charged for in the first instance. As I contemplate what I had just typed, the track grows some, but the growth doesn't last long and actually ends up in contraction. This is actively unpleasant - not just uninteresting or boring, no... its actually dissonant for me. Virus improves things somewhat, a nice little tinkling melody. It is not without flaws though as the vocal occasionally tips over into unpleasantness. At this rate it could be two complete deletions in a row. Where the tune is nice, the vocal lets down and vice versa. There are nice little moments, vignettes hidden within these pieces that interest, inspire and amuse but overall the impression of each and every track is one of "I don't want to hear that again." Not entirely unexpected but a disappointment and a shame all the same. Whatever it was that prompted me to pick up Biophilia should clearly not be placed in charge of purchasing decisions in future; I can't blame this on the follies of youth and changing taste so something else went awry here.
The disc ends as it began, plucked strings and a vocal that does not necessarily play best with them. The strings would be nice, but feel a little medieval and incomplete. A deliberate artefact no doubt, but one that confirms that non of these tracks are worth my time and all are heading for the recycle bin. Now, if only I could reclaim the last hour...
Plucked strings open us up, a reasonably nice tune if repetitive after a while. It's nice and soft, but the way Björk's voice is added to the mix fails to excite me. Rather than lifting the piece, it sounds to me as if it is at odds with the simple and soft backing. Almost too much emotion if you will. The structure of the piece leaves much to be desired and I find myself wishing for it to end at it makes half-way. The sparseness of the music is nice, but not nice enough to last the almost 6-minute length and the mismatch with the singing persists throughout. Not an auspicious start. Thunderbolt is more promising. Here the voice is less affected, less out of place. The support is still very light but there is a more atmospheric crucible formed by the electronic beeps and beats and this plays better with our singer's distinctive tones. I am still not sold on the track, but at least I think this one works at what it is trying to achieve. Moon felt like a failed experiment in comparison.
I must have figured and factored in the eccentricities of the performer into the decision to purchase this; a decision I still cannot quite fathom. I have never hated Björk in the way she was ridiculed after It's Oh So Quiet; there has always been a degree of interest in the compositions used to support such a distinctive vocal but almost an academic one, not an aesthetic one. I guess I must have been swayed by reviews of this release near the time and must have seen something about the composition to get me to come up with the cash. I am at a loss for what that might have been though, as now I am here listening there is very little that... huh. Breaking out into drum'n'bass eh? That is a twist I didn't see coming, although the majority of Crystalline's construction does, in retrospect, hint at the combustible end to the track. I don't like it, but it is interesting - and I was about to say interest was absent.
We leave the club sounds behind and go more sad movie soundtrack next. This song I like, at least initially. The track dies half way through though, which is disappointing. It revives a bit but never recaptures my interest enough to save it. One thing to mention is that this is an album of long songs - none are particularly overlong, but with 10 tracks the average length is around 5 minutes. Only one is less than 4 in length (I am glad that is Dark Matter as 3:22 feels too long for this... thing) and this does mean that it feels like a very drawn out experience. Not really what I needed on a wet afternoon.
Hollow is, well... well named I guess. The track feels very hollow, not much to it. I find myself resenting the fact I bought this disc not because I don't like it, but because tracks like this make me wonder what we are being charged for in the first instance. As I contemplate what I had just typed, the track grows some, but the growth doesn't last long and actually ends up in contraction. This is actively unpleasant - not just uninteresting or boring, no... its actually dissonant for me. Virus improves things somewhat, a nice little tinkling melody. It is not without flaws though as the vocal occasionally tips over into unpleasantness. At this rate it could be two complete deletions in a row. Where the tune is nice, the vocal lets down and vice versa. There are nice little moments, vignettes hidden within these pieces that interest, inspire and amuse but overall the impression of each and every track is one of "I don't want to hear that again." Not entirely unexpected but a disappointment and a shame all the same. Whatever it was that prompted me to pick up Biophilia should clearly not be placed in charge of purchasing decisions in future; I can't blame this on the follies of youth and changing taste so something else went awry here.
The disc ends as it began, plucked strings and a vocal that does not necessarily play best with them. The strings would be nice, but feel a little medieval and incomplete. A deliberate artefact no doubt, but one that confirms that non of these tracks are worth my time and all are heading for the recycle bin. Now, if only I could reclaim the last hour...
No comments:
Post a Comment