Top 5 Björk songs that you should definitely listen to
Björk's art-pop catalog is an exploration of wonder and color. Like her visual images, Björk's music is big and complex. She is like a great jazz singer who is not interested in nostalgia. She doesn't fit into narrow genre boundaries. Her songs are both tender and brutal at the same time. She sounds down-to-earth and alienated, connecting her personal experience with events on a cosmic scale.
The American Songwriter website writes: "Björk is originally from Iceland and began her musical career in the band The Sugarcubes. This group introduced her stunning voice to the world before she became a well-known solo artist. It happened in 1993 after the release of the album Debut.
In general, Björk's music is based on Icelandic folk, pop, electronica, avant-garde, jazz and classical music. It is also known that punk and new wave bands, such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, influenced the formation of the singer's musical taste.
Here are 5 of Björk's most important songs according to American Songwriter
"Big Time Sensuality" Debut (1993)
Listening to Debut, you seem to be transported back in time to the dance floor of the 90s. A time and place where many significant moments happen in one big night.
The track "Big Time Sensuality" features a piercing organ. Björk sings about what many ravers were thinking at the time: "I don't know my future after this weekend, and I don't want to know."
"Hyperballad" Post (1995)
Björk fights his demons in the morning to find time for his partner during the day. "Hyperballad" is an apt title and a simple piece of work by Björk's standards.
The track opens with a looming bass line. Björk stands on the edge of a cliff. In the second verse, she sings a painful line, imagining her body hitting the rocks. Then the emotional release of the house beat in the second chorus.
"I will go through all this before you wake up.
To feel happier being safe here with you."
"Human Behavior" Debut (1993)
One of Björk's most famous songs comes from her time with The Sugarcubes. She decided not to record it with the band and saved it for her first solo album.
The mind supposedly separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. But anyone who pays attention to the human race can agree with Björk when she sings: "There is definitely, definitely, definitely no logic in human behavior."
The song "Human Behavior" is another example of Björk's duality: she sounds like a voice from outer space and like an inhabitant of a deep forest. The main riff is taken from the song "Go Down Dying" by Ray Brown Orchestra.
"Army of Me" by Post (1995)
The song "Army of Me" opens with a bass line that sounds ominous. Björk spews venom at his brother for his destructive behavior. She's had enough.
"You're on your own now.
We're not going to save you.
Your rescue team
is too tired."
The song Army of Me was written while working on Debut, but the singer kept it for her second album, Post. The industrial track samples Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks".
"Jóga" by Homogenic (1997)
"Jóga" is Björk's best vocal performance. It's pure, emotional magic against the backdrop of gorgeous strings. The disparate rhythms set the track in motion, breaking and shattering.
Björk solves the mysteries of personal relationships like the mysteries of the universe. She is at her best when she connects the earthly with the cosmic. The chaotic dubstep break in the middle part can symbolize the dangerous reality of Mother Nature. In 1997, it also foreshadowed the transformation of dubstep into the mainstream.
