Björk
Medùlla

THE REVIEW

Delicate and at the same time haunting. Only Björk, muse of psychotic directors and anti-pop icon par excellence, could have created an album so unbearably snobbish in its disarming simplicity. Picasso was right when he said that learning to paint with the simplicity of a child takes a lifetime. Björk seems to have (unconsciously) taken this apparent provocation to heart.

"Medúlla" is the natural continuation of that "electronic detox" started with the previous "Vespertine". In this album, Matmos' beats give way to the voices of the Icelandic choir and a handful of guest artists, among whom ex-Faith No More Mike Patton stands out. But it is her voice that reigns supreme over the icy vocal textures that permeate the fourteen songs of "Medúlla", some of which are performed in her (to say the least challenging) native language.

Fragments of the Björk that once was emerge in tracks like "Who Is It", and even to the most inexperienced listeners, they sound like a faint link to a recent past that has never seemed so distant. The singer does not renounce, but certainly does not look back and, like a modern-day Paganini, never repeats herself. All this for the (joy?) of her loyal listeners.