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Elly Roberts reviews
One Little Indian Records
- May 2007
- Rating: 8/10
Whacky returns with Volta: world music with a difference.
As we all know, Bjork Gudmunsdottir is an acquired taste. The downrightweird and, sort of, wonderful one remains as enigmatic as ever. Mostly writtenand produced by Bjork, shes enlisted uber producer Timbaland and AntonyHegarty (Antony and the Johnsons), along with acclaimed African artists ToumaniDiabate and Congolese band Konono No 1. Theres also a 10-piece brass sectioncomprising female Icelandic musicians and Min Xiao-Fen to play Chinesestringed instrument pipa.
Volta, her sixth album is as quirky and avante garde as ever. There isno better one to listen to if you appreciate a truly progressive artist, thoughits not always easy on the ear because shes not one for your average 3-minuteditty. She doesnt do, what most of us expect in the mainstream, tunes as such.She comes close though with one song only, Hope.
There again, Bjork isnt mainstream, never will be, but she is hugely popularin some circles, particularly musos. Her strengths, if they can be called that,are that she evermore explores and pushes the boundaries, even if some it isuncomfortable and sometimes contrived, for contriveds sake. Most, ordinaryfolk, will find it, odd at best.
But Volta shouldnt overlooked, purely for the expansive sonic experiencesthat unfold. The fun, which Bjork can be, combined with her outlandish voice,starts with a pounding march like stomp on Earth Intruders. Its thekind of female equivalent of ’80s Peter Gabriel. After a few listens, itbecomes quite catchy. The more you listen to it the more you find whatsgoing on, though snorting foghorns and seagulls on the outro dont exactlywork.
But thats Bjork. In sharp contrast, Wanderlust is an erratic beats-brassexcursion with references to her house boat in New York: she goes,“I feel at home whenever, the unknown surrounds me, I receive its embrace,aboard my floating house.”
New sensation Antony Hegarty adds his quirky vocals on brass fueled The DullFlame Of Desire, an odd jaunt indeed, but it fits the bill. GratingInnocence lends more to sound tweaking in the studio than music, thoughplaintive I See Who You Are is absolutely divine which is given theoriental feel via the masterful Min Xiao-Fens pipa.
Filler Vertebrae By Vertebrae should have been left on the cutting roomfloor, as should brass heavy Pneumonia. Things improve with Hope,a beat and bass driven sojourn about a suicide bomber, with delicious splashesof clavichord which seems at odds with the content.
Voltas low point is the unrelenting chanting on shambolic Declare Independence.Hegarty pops up again on the finale, the most stripped sound Bjork could musterfor My Juvenile as she relates to imparting plenty of warmth to onealready gone, lamenting with, “Thank you for again / to get to be able tosend warmth / perhaps I set you too free too fast / too young.”
Absolutely fascinating. Still groundbreaking, but not the mark of a genius.
Weblink:Bjork.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Earth Intruders
2. Wanderlust
3. The Dull Flame Of Lust
4. Innocence
5. I See Who You Are
6. Vertebrae By Vertebrae
7. Pneumonia
8. Hope
9. Declare Independence
10. My Juvenile
11. I See Who You Are (Mark Bell remix)
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.