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OTR: Björk - Selmasongs

The full title of this album is Selmasongs: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack Dancer in the Dark, however, only Selmasongs is printed on the spine of the jewel case. For the sake of clarity and brevity, I'm going to refer to this album by it's abbreviated title.

When I mentioned in my entry for Debut that my Björk collection had massive holes in it, I wasn't kidding. Seven years and three albums (Post, Telegram and Homogenic) separate Debut and Selmasongs.

I don't remember when or where I bought my copy of Selmasongs, but I do remember when and where I first heard it: WAIH. The album came out during my reign as the station's music director, which meant that not only did it arrive at the station, it made it onto the playlist and had an opportunity to be played. In heavy rotation on my show were "Cvalda," "I've Seen It All" (a duet with Radiohead's Thom Yorke) and "In The Musicals." I wouldn't see Dancer in the Dark, the film which produced this album until years later.

Eschewing a review of the movie to focus on just the music, despite the brevity of the album (seven tracks totalling little more than half an hour), it holds together very well. These musical moments, of course, are the times when Björk's character, Selma, has slipped out of the "real world" for an alternate fantasy existence where the musicals are what is real. Unfortunately for Selma, but fortunately for those of us compelled by the narrative, the musical world ends up reflecting the real world - and the inevitable tragic ending.

Though it is a soundtrack, Selmasongs is a Björk album all the way through. She wrote all of the songs, working with director Lars Von Trier so that they fit into the film. It's a shame that Björk hasn't written more material for musicals...or collaborated with Danny Elfman and Tim Burton.