Medulla

Rolling Stone (p.79) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "MEDULLA is both the most extreme record Bjork has ever released and the most immediately accessible....[With] and awe-inspiring architecture of sound..." Spin (p.111) - "On MEDULLA, her voice is in constant motion, in sync with the beat, rather than battling it..." - Grade: B+ Spin (p.65) - Ranked #19 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "She's a siren, luring us into the mystic with nothing but her voice." Entertainment Weekly (pp.161-2) - "[S]he'll soon have you shunning electronica....One of her best efforts..." - Grade: A Uncut (p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 - "It is the curious marriage of glottal outpouring and emotional candour to microscopically detailed and often utterly illogical arrangements that keeps her music vital and unpredictable." Uncut (p.76) - Ranked #41 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[A]n awe-inspiring achievement..." The Wire (p.55) - "MEDULLA breezes with a sense of serendipitous discovery, with Bjork singing as sublime as ever." CMJ (p.39) - "The beats of 'Mouth's Cradle' spit and sputter, sometimes as a contrast and sometimes as a perfect fit to the female choir that haunts the corners of the song." Mojo (Publisher) (p.93) - 4 stars out of 5 - "MEDULLA is not only the bravest record she's ever made, it's also one of the strangest and most uncompromising by a major artist to get a commercial release....[With a] raw beauty, intricate choral arrangements and decidedly outre production..."

It's hard to accuse Bjork of making music influenced by commercial or critical expectations at any point in her career, but her post-Homogenic work is even more focused on following her bliss, whether that means acting and singing in Lars Von Trier's grim musical Dancer in the Dark; crafting tiptoeing laptop lullabies on Vespertine; or, in the case of Medulla, sculpting an album out of almost nothing but singing and vocal samples. The album's title and concept refer to the purest essence of something, and Medulla explores both the ritual power of the human voice and some of the most essential themes of Bjork's music in a way that's both primal and elaborate. It took a large cast of characters to make the album's seemingly organic sound, including vocalists ranging from Icelandic and British choirs to Inuit singers to Mike Patton and Robert Wyatt; programmers like Matmos, Mark Bell, and Mark "Spike" Stent; and beatboxers such as Rahzel and the onomatopoeically named Japanese artist Dokaka. Several songs are sung in Icelandic, which works especially well, not only because it ties in with Medulla's concept, but also because of the language's sonic qualities: the rolling Rs, guttural stops, and elongated vowels reflect the alternately chopped and soaring arrangements behind them. Neopaganism and unfettered sensuality also wind through the album, particularly on "Mouth's Cradle," along with meditative, Vespertine-like pieces such as "Desired Constellation." Medulla is unusually intimate: Bjork's voice is miked very closely, and with the dense layers of vocals surrounding her, it often sounds as if you're listening to the album from inside her larynx. Some of the heavy breathing, grunts, and ululating woven into the album come close to provoking physical reactions: the eerie sighs and throat singing on the feral "Ancestors" make the chest ache and suggest a particularly melodic pack of wolves. Meanwhile, there's something simian about Dokaka's gleeful babbling and beats on "Triumph of a Heart." Despite its gentler moments, Medulla's raw rhythms and rarefied choral washes make it the most challenging work of Bjork's career. "Where Is the Line" is one of her tough, no-nonsense songs, and Rahzel's hard-hitting beats make it starker than anything on Homogenic. Even relatively accessible songs, like the gone-native loveliness of "Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)" and "Oceania," which Bjork wrote for the 2004 Athens Olympics, have an alien quality that is all the stranger considering that nearly all of their source material is human (except for the odd keyboard or two). Actually, fans of world, contemporary classical, or avant-garde music might find more to appreciate in Medulla than anyone looking for a "Human Behaviour" or "It's Oh So Quiet." It's not an immediate album, but it is a fascinating one, especially for anyone interested in the world's oldest instrument being used in unexpected ways. [Medulla was also released in a limited-edition digipack with a bonus poster.] ~ Heather Phares

頭だけで物事を考えていると徐々に不安が蓄積し、自分が透明に思えてきて、堂々巡りに陥りやすい。でも身体を使い、鼓動が脈打つのを感じると、不安は消えて自分は確かになり、明日を信じられる。身体と心は繋がっている、想像以上に──ビョークの新しいアルバム『Medｴulla』はそれを音楽で露わにしていて、〈声〉という彼女にとって最大の個性を存分に活かし、アカペラやヴォーカルを前面に押し出した音作りで、アイスランドのコーラス隊をはじめ、マイク・パットンやラーゼルらと共演して作り上げている。「筋肉や血や肉を感じ取るようなアルバムを作りたかった」と彼女自身が言い、自分の身体で表現しきることに挑戦した。結果、余計なものが削ぎ落とされてメッセージはクリアになり、目には見えない命の鼓動までも感じさせ気高く美しい。この不安だらけの社会の中で生き抜く術を伝え、生きてることの喜びを強く確認させてくれる作品だ。
bounce (C)和田 靜香