Bjork (and Bjorkanspiel)

I have a lot of love for Bjork Gudmasonnitir (her stage name, at least, but aren't they all). I have all her studio experiments, but only one album physically - "Vulnicura" from 2015, on acetate for Record Store Day (coincidentally, as it happened). I bought everything else back from eMusic.com...luckily I downloaded everything before they made their needed alterations to the site (which only unfortunately wiped every account of its previous downloads; but kept the saved lists).

I met her once, and while she was warm and friendly, there was a natural likeable aloofness that resonates chiefly in her music creations. She is at the forefront of a superbrain production ethic, amassing layer upon layer of cellar-dwelling closet skeletons with bones for emotions. The density of each composition - take "Possibly Maybe (Lucy Remix)", with its erotic language intoned over vocoded scatterbrain chromatic synapse-wringing, speaks of a deification of the female spoken word.

A good place to start is "Debut". One of my favourites from Bjork from the start was "Play Dead"; later "Venus As A Boy"; "Isobel" has its moments; and "Big Time Sensuality", "Army Of Me" and the classic "All Is Full Of Love" neatly make up a fair portion of the "Greatest Hits CD" highlights. While no track is a standout, every track is a statement. But it's poetic, and like the best poetry, the meanings are endless, not robotic. Bjork is one of those artists where, like Alison Goldfrapp after her, the syllables she speaks can be about anything - they, just like her music and attitude, is frankly stunningly beautiful. "Big Time...sensuality, oh baby".