Debut
Reviews :
Exclusive Review from CMJ New Music
When geyser-gargling scream-shouter Björk first swirled out
of Iceland with her Sugarcubes six years ago, she was quite
the pensive naif. Sprung upon the world, her group became a
rampaging cultural amoeba, assimilating English and American
musical styles into its sound with lightning speed. And now we
have Björk's Debut, a record that, for the most part, feels
so thoroughly Yankee you'd think this Reykjavik rascal had moved
right down the block. "Human Behavior" couples a
sampled tape loop with uppity grinding guitars and that patented
maelstrom of a voice, which actually yodels on this
rollercoaster cut. Other numbers, like the vibraphone-tinged
"Venus As a Boy" and the modally harp-strummed
"Like
Someone In Love," are as fun and sleazy as Bill Murray's
unctuous lounge-singer persona, and the funk-fortified "Big
Time
Sensuality" could be a Janet Jackson outtake. Although a
couple of Debut's ditties just hang there on the wall like
abstract
art ("One Day" and "The Anchor Song"), Björk
still maintains her refreshing, naive outlook. In fact, she is
one of the few
female artists who can simultaneously sound both sinister and
childlike, a rare gift lost beneath Einar Orn's barking bellow
in the Sugarcubes. So when she tosses out a line such as "I
move carefully through the crowd," you have to overlook your
initial instinct to wonder "But WHY does Björk move
carefully through the crowd?" and just sit back and enjoy
this volcanic
crooner at her most molten.
Tom Lanham
College Media, Inc.
Exclusive Review from CMJ New Music Report
Björk's voice is like no other's: It glistens across notes
like a raindrop down a leaf, is gruff and catches as if she were
too
choked up to sing, and swoops like a soprano completing an aria.
For her first non-Sugarcubes side-project, she's hooked up
with Nellee Hooper, half the brains behind Soul II Soul, and
while one shouldn't expect a collection of pure dance tracks, the
vibe on Debut is generally rhythmic and groove-oriented. The
songs range from a glossy soul feel to a quiet jazz lament,
Björk's
chameleon-like vocals suiting each style perfectly. The only
discordant moments on Debut are when Björk screeches, since
there
are no guitars and no Einar. Björk's precocious personality
shines throughout, whether it's in her unusual phrasing or
through her
lyrics, though on the first single, "Human Behaviour,"
both elements coil around a catchy melody. "Big Time
Sensuality" sounds
tailor-made for a thumping dance remix, its cool smooth beat the
most similar to Soul II Soul. "Violently Happy" picks
up where
her collaboration with 808 State left off, a fast-paced techno
track with Björk's vocals floating softly above, and the
coolness of
"The Anchor Song" mixes Björk's poetic delivery with
horns as the only musical accompaniment. While Debut does not
afford us
the same glimpse of God we got when we first heard the
Sugarcubes, it nonetheless allows us to hear more of what made
them so
divine.
Megan McLaughlin
College Media, Inc.
Quick Quotes :
Included in Q's list of `The 50 Best Albums Of 1993' -
"...an album of tantalising contrasts....manages to be
bubbly, exhilarating,
brazenly dance-oriented and satisfying all at once..."
Q Magazine 1/94, p.85
Ranked #6 in Melody Maker's list of the `Albums Of The Year'
for 1993 - "...a fantastic DEBUT..."
Melody Maker 1/1/94, p.76
Ranked #1 in New Musical Express' list of the `Top 50 LPs Of
1993' - "...DEBUT is a musical treasure chest of organic
techno
beats, twinkly jazz serenades and otherworldly nursery rhymes,
disregarding categories and [displaying] a bewitching faith in
pop's
ability to challenge..."
New Musical Express 12/25/93, p.66
"...what makes her singing memorable isn't the odd
assortment of growls, moans and chirps she relies upon, but the
emotions
those sounds convey..."
Musician 7/93, p.90
4 Stars - Excellent - "...Björk Godmundsdottir's voice
was undoubtedly the jewel in The Sugarcubes' crown and in the
relatively
sparse setting of this solo debut she reclaims all her old wit
and joissance....a surprising, playful collection..."
Q Magazine 7/93, p.85
9 - Excellent Plus - "...an album that believes music can
be magical and special...."
New Musical Express 7/3/93, p.35
Notes :
Personnel: Björk (keyboards, vocals), Jon Mallison (guitar),
Corki Hale (harp), Oliver Lake (alto saxophone), Gary Barnacle,
Mike Mower (horns), Marius De Vries, Paul Waller, Martin Virgo
(keyboards, programming), Garry Hughes (keyboards,
Hammond organ, programming), Luis Jardim (bass, drums,
percussion), Bruce Smith, Nellee Hooper (drums, percussion),
Talvin
Singh (tabla), Jhelisa Anderson (background vocals).
Engineers: Jim Abbiss, Nellee Hooper, Howie Bernstein, Paul
Corkett, Dave Burnham, Brian Pugsley, Hugo Nicolson, Paul
Wertheimer, H. Shalleh, Al Stone.
With DEBUT, the Icelandic thrush Björk Godmundsdottir (late
of the Sugarcubes) brings her knowing innocence and quirky voice
to bear on an engaging program of renegade pop tunes. The unusual
instrumental textures on songs such as "Human
Behavior,"
fleshed out with timpani, small percussion instruments,
vibraphones and harps, suggests a post-modern version of Phil
Spector.
As a singer, Björk's swooping octave leaps and guttural cries
betray the elemental contradictions in her music. She projects
the
girlish innocence and barely constrained sensuality of a wise
child, old beyond her years (the techno-reggae romanticism of
"Venus
As A Boy," the bouncy house changes of "Big Time
Sensuality" and "Violently Happy"), and sometimes
she sounds like she's trying
to rediscover how such doe-eyed love might actually feel, as if
for the first time (the mysterious groove of "One Day"
and the jazzy
standard "Like Someone In Love," with its spare harp
accompaniment).
There's a pronounced techno feel to DEBUT, with its airy
synthesizers and spacious, uncluttered mixes, but without the
cool,
mechanized detachment of that genre. On "Aeroplane"
Björk combines a saxophone quartet with Middle Eastern-flavored
percussion
to steer her tale of obsessive love just outside of the pop
mainstream, while the unusual saxophone harmonies of "The
Anchor Song"
lend a folkish color to her extended metaphors on home and erotic
immersion. It's precisely Björk's sense of adventure that gives
DEBUT such a cool exotic flavor.