A Short History of Bjork

Bjork released her first album at the age of eleven. It featured cover versions and was popular in Iceland. At eighteen she had already been in three punk bands and had released four albums. She had been working with Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman, who had moved to Iceland because of an impending apocalypse, apparently. This, the work with Coleman and not the apocalypse, convinced Bjork that it was time she let the world know about her talents. She formed Kukl who released a couple of albums on Crass' record label. The she formed the Sugarcubes. They were signed by One Little Indian in 1987. Their debut album, 'Life's Too Good,' secured the Sugarcubes' future as well as the label's future in 1988. The next three years produced three albums. The music was experimental and eclectic. But it was Bjork's voice which sold their music, and not Einer Orn's crazy spoken ramblings. The stand-out track from these three years was 'Birthday.' It's an amazing song with an amazing vocal performance. At the time it was unlike anything else you'd ever heard. The band were just a stepping stone for the young Icelandic singer. They split up after a couple more releases.

Bjork went back to Iceland and started working on various projects with various musicians. A fifties inspired doo-wop album was released. But it was on her first proper internationally released solo debut album that Bjork made the world sit up and listen. She has collaborated all through her career, and for her debut, called 'Debut,' it was no different. The beats for the album were provided by trip-hop genius Nellee Hooper and Jah Wobble, Tim Simenon, David Arnold and Talvin Singh all contribute to the backing music. It's a lush sounding album, shot through with intriguing textures and orchestration. The album benefits from new technology and new beats via hip-hop and dance. Yet the other thing that makes the album so good is the hooks, the pop sensibility of the songs. There are proper pop songs on the album and they are delivered in a cool and unique setting. A setting which is as much the work of her collaborators as it is of Bjork herself. The first single from the album was a big hit. 'Human Behaviour' benefited from some cunningly well commissioned remixes which meant that clubs were playing it. The other dance tracks on the album also sound great but it is the slower songs which show a glimpse of Bjork's future direction. They experiment with moods and sounds, and indeed styles and genres.

The album 'Homogenic' was released in 1997. It's one of her more extreme releases and musically diverse in nature. The album is the work of another collaboration. This time with Mark Bell. He is the man behind hardcore techno band LFO. The album is full of strangely distorted electronica and lush and sweeping strings. But again, it is Bjork's voice and vocal performances that turn the whole set of songs into an otherworldly experience. 'Vespertine', from 2002, is pretty similar, though a little quieter. The beats are down in the mix and the overall sound of the album comes from strings, choirs and more classical textures. The fragility in her voice mirrors the music and because the music is so imaginative it is difficult to predict where her vocals will go from one minute to the next, and how it will be used.

It is impossible to pigeon-hole Bjork and her music. She's definitely dance in some way, and sometimes a bit rock, although there's a fair amount of ambient stuff in there too. She's ultimately experimental and artistic in design. Maybe similar in some regards to Karlheinz Stockhausen, who was also experimental and an original. Stockhausen is sometimes filed under classical, which is odd, though he does 'compose'. Maybe Bjork will be filed in the same way in years to come, although it is a truly great achievement to be that experimental and unique and still maintain, to some degree, a pop career.