403) Bjork - Debut

I had certainly heard her voice as I was fifteen when Birthday came out and was on my voyage of discovery with music, and when I first heard it there was a “what the hell is that?” and you had to hear it again, It was no surprise that it made the number one spot in John Peel’s Festive Top fifty and The Sugarcubes followed it up with Hit a few years later, which was a welcome addition to the charts and although they split the following year in 1993, I had no idea the lead singer was about to become huge.

That lead singer was Bjork who had decided to move on from guitars and hung around Manchester with 808 State’s Graham Massey and immersed herself in the dance culture.

Nellee Hooper came on board as a producer and with beats and synths startling clear the magic of her unique voice was let loose. Human Behaviour is the perfect opening to this record, and a single, its playful, bold and she has the ability in all these songs to wrap her unique vocals around any melody, the almost industrial noise in the final minute is welcome before she takes us out gently.

Such was the success of this record she was able to release four of these eleven tracks as singles, Venus as a Boy, its usually her voice that attracts attention but listen to what is going on in the background here as she embraces Bollywood, Big Time Sensuality is where I fell for her, if you heard this in a club it was wonderful, I am famous for being one of the UK’s worst dancers but even I tapped a foot to this one, not on a dancefloor to be clear, and I love the slow build of Violently Happy before the beat lodges in your brain and doesn’t go away.

Crying the piano is simple and melodic and just as it finds the rhythms of Bomb the Bass’s Beat Dis, to these ears, she goes off the rails on the chorus and then takes you back to the piano and There’s More To Life Than This the backing vocalists are as important as Bjork, they all seem to be on a high and her voice and the harp are beautiful on Like Someone In Love.

Come to Me when she sings “I adore you” I am reminded of Portishead’s Dummy, never a terrible thing.

Aeroplane and The Anchor Song both have a sax layering about the song, in and out, a more laid-back chilled vibe as you can luxuriate in her voice, and that’s the thing if you fall for the voice you will fall for this record, I did.

7.75/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Big Time Sensuality