Volta

全英7位を獲得した7thアルバム!(2007年作品/2015年リイシュー盤)
グラミー賞「最優秀オルタナティヴ・ミュージック・アルバム」ノミネート!
ゲスト・ヴォーカルにアノーニ(旧名アントニー・ヘガティ/アントニー・アンド・ ザ・ジョンソンズ)、プロダクションでティンバランド、マーク・ベル(LFO)、コノノ・No. 1が参加! トライバルビートを取り入れたダンサブルな作品! 大ヒットシングル「Wanderlust」、「Innocence」、「Declare Independence」収録!
・初回生産限定通常LP盤!

Once again finding harmony and creating alchemy between seeming opposites, on Volta Bjork is bold but thoughtful, delicate yet strong, accessible and avant. The intricacy and complexity of projects like Medulla and Drawing Restraint 9 suggested that she might have left the more direct side of her work behind, but Volta's opening track and lead single, "Earth Intruders," puts that notion to rest: the song literally marches in, riding a bubbling, ritualistic beat courtesy of Timbaland and Konono No. 1's electric thumb-pianos. Bjork howls "Turmoil! Carnage!" like incantations over the din, and after several albums' worth of beautiful whispers, it's a joy to hear her raise her voice and volume like this. "Wanderlust" follows and provides the yin to "Earth Intruders"' yang, its horns and brooding melody giving it the feel of a moodier, more contemplative version of "The Anchor Song." These two songs set the tone for the rest of Volta's pendulum-like swings between sounds and moods, all of which are tied together by found-sound and brass-driven interludes that give the impression that the album was recorded in a harbor -- an apt metaphor for how ideas and collaborators come and go on this album. Timbaland's beats resurface on "Innocence," another of Volta's most potent moments; a sample of what sounds like a man getting punched in the gut underscores Bjork's viewpoint that purity is something powerful, not gentle. Antony and the Johnsons' Antony Hegarty lends his velvety voice to two outstanding but very different love songs: "The Dull Flame of Desire" captures swooning romance by pairing Bjork and Hegarty's voices with a slowly building tattoo courtesy of Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale; "My Juvenile," which is dedicated to Bjork's son Sindri, closes Volta with a much gentler duet. Considering how much sonic and emotional territory the album spans -- from the brash, anthemic "Declare Independence," which sounds a bit like Homogenic's "Pluto," to "Pneumonia" and "Vertebrae by Vertebrae," which are as elliptical and gentle as anything on Vespertine or Drawing Restraint 9 -- Volta could very easily sound scattered, but this isn't the case. Instead, it finds the perfect balance between the vibrancy of her poppier work in the '90s and her experiments in the 2000s. ~ Heather Phares

大将ティンバランドの参加で、ジャスティン・ティンバーレイクやネリー・ファータド並みにイケイケになるかと思えば、そこはビョーク。しっかり自分の〈ミーイズム〉を譲らない。というか、むしろ彼女の世界観を〈俗世界＝ポップ〉と繋がらせて引き止める役目を果たしているのがティンバだったり、アントニー・アンド・ザ・ジョンソンズのアントニーだったり、ライトニング・ボルトのブライアン・チッペンデイルだったり、LFOのマーク・ベルだったりという曲者揃いで、通例とはやや逆説的。リズムが明解になったぶん、近作には見られなかったほど風通しのいい快作となった。あとは中国の弦楽器やアイスランドの吹奏隊、マニアックな変則ビートを導入してみたり。相変わらず無邪気な子供が本能のままに遊んでいるかのようだが、今回は積み木をやってるみたいなテンションや密室感よりも、ビョークの自由奔放な音の落書きが楽しめる。
bounce (C)村上ひさし