did you see that recent south park episode where cartman couldnǃÙt contain his excitement about the imminent release of the nintendo wii, so much so that he tried to deep freeze himself until the launch date? ok, now replace cartman with me and the wii with bjorkǃÙs ǃÚvoltaǃ٠– released into the world on may 7. i reckon i could survive ten days at minus thirty degrees if it means that i won’t chew my fingers off in anticipation.
just to remind us that we’re all getting far older than we’d like, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the sugarcubes’ ǃÚbirthdayǃÙ. a full two decades have passed since i sat in my bedroom, doing my school homework, with radio one’s annie nightingale as the soundtrack. i recall exactly the moment when annie dropped ‘birthday’ and bjork tripped through my speakers for the first time. it might sound as pretentious as all hell, but it did literally feel like time had stopped. to this day, that voice and that recording both stand the test of time, and it remains one of my top ten tracks. the less said about fellow ‘cube-member einar’s vocal contribution, the better. i really don’t like lobsters.
skip forward twenty years, and bjork’s new single, ǃÚearth intrudersǃÙ, signals a turning point in her solo career. through ‘vespertine’, ‘medulla’ and 2005’s ‘drawing restraint’, bjork became increasingly internalised – themes, lyrics and sounds all became quiet, insular and tiny. and yet here in 2007, she’s pulled the brakes on that particular journey and the extroverted exuberance and joy that characterised the ‘post’ album back in 1995 has seemingly returned. that’s not to say that bjork is eating herself, far from it – the contributions of artists such as congo’s konono no.1 and antony hegarty should ensure that bjork’s got enough external influences to keep pushing things forward.
as a precursor to the album release, we can satiate our desires (and thus temper the need for cartman-esque hibernation) with a series of official video podcasts, prising open the door with refreshing candour, as bjork reveals the forces that now drive her creativity. and if thatǃÙs not enough for us, the announcement of a lengthy world tour suggests that ms gudmundsd√≥ttir will be playing at your house sometime soon.
video: volta podcast – part one
video: volta podcast – part two
video: volta podcast – part three
bjork.com
the journey itself is home – official volta tour blog