B is for Bjork

So I just got Bjork's newest CD, Volta, along with the CD of music she wrote for boyfriend Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 9 artsy-fartsy film. So let's talk Bjork, shall we?

I completely understand why some people can't handle her music. I really do. It's odd and experimental (particularly in the past few years...getting harder to sing along and more soundscape-y on some tracks), but I must admit I'm a fan. I was listening to Volta in the car today (and finding "Earth Intruders" much more catchy than I probably should) and thinking, "Something else my neighbours wouldn't get about my life." (I'm convinced they're already freaked out by the odd hours I keep ... particularly when I'm in a show or working a lot at the restaurant ... about my jungle of a lawn, about the time I was dressed as Riffy on my way to see Rocky Horror in Toronto ... the list goes on).

Highlights of her genius? Huge chunks of Vespertine, which include, among other things, tracks on which Inuit throat singing feature prominently (as does a track on Drawing Restraing 9). Pretty much the entire Selmasongs CD from Dancer in the Dark (see below), including a brilliant piece whose lyrics are only numbers being counted. "It's Oh So Quiet", which, while written by someone else, is performed with such great abandon. Really, I quite marvel at her quirky Icelandic self.

Then there's Dancer in the Dark. Oh my. What a fantastic movie. I started watching it and, in the first ten minutes, I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to like its style, then BOOM! I was sucked in and love it. She really put in an exceptional (and, in many ways, exceptionally simple) performance. I periodically make friends watch it and then three days later, they call to say, "Thanks a lot. I'm still thinking about that movie."

So there you have it. Bjork. I'm a fan, though I won't judge those who aren't.

And I thought the swan dress was brilliantly funny. People need to learn to laugh.


(I also like bananas, books, and Bowie.)