Björk
Gling-Glo

It was 1993 when Björk released her first album "Debut", which has since become a staple in the history of today's pop-rock.
However, not long before that (in the period just after leaving the Sugarcubes around 1990), not everyone knows that the "little" Björk recorded this 'Gling-Glo', a surprising album of Icelandic jazz standards and a few original tracks composed for the occasion. The very sparse liner notes tell us about a record made with her father and his bebop group: The Trio Gudmundar Ingólfssonar but little else is known to us. The impossibility of a decent translation of the lyrics and the absolute lack of additional news of any interest thus give us an "anomalous" work, partly missing the intended purpose of the project and the reason for which it was created.

The tracks are all performed by the still raw but already extremely versatile and volcanic voice of this 18-year-old, born in 1965 in Reykjavik, Iceland, who already demonstrated grit, enthusiasm, and power to spare, and whose chronicles will later speak of a bright future ahead of her.
A future primarily in music ("Debut" will win numerous awards, album of the year from New Musical Express, and Gold record in the USA and will be crowned "princess of experimental pop" on several occasions and in the years to come) and an equally important cinematic future (Best Actress award in "Dancing in the Dark" and in the latest "Drawing Restraint 9" made with her husband almost two years ago).
Of this "minor" work, little known to many, done in that "middle" period where Great Popularity was still a dream (and not entirely a priority according to interviews) we are left with these 16 untranslatable tracks (apart from the last two "Ruby Baby" and "I Can't Help Loving That Man") which, precisely because of this, allow us to evaluate the versatility, vocal range, and interpretive originality of a singer with a unique voice timbre who already at 18 knew her stuff, and thanks to perseverance, application, tenacity, and a large dose of luck (which is always needed... indeed, necessary!) she managed to arrive in about 15 years and a handful of albums in the Pantheon of the Greats of rock music, and perhaps (I dare say) contemporary of our century.

An incredibly enjoyable album in its swing, be-bop, and classic jazz cut where the voice of the "little princess" (not yet a queen), navigates through swirling feats of vocal pirouettes and bursts of daring eccentric virtuosity that will be hard to replicate in the more experimental albums that will follow.
A talent still in bloom but demonstrating all its potential to be.
An utterly enjoyable album where the warmth of jazz marries the iciness of a language impossible for us to understand but which, all things considered, given the delightful result, we hardly care about.
Bau Bye.