OTR: Björk - Medúlla

[illusionofjoy]

The very first concert I ever attended many years ago was sometime when I was still in middle school. My family was living in Potsdam, New York and Bobby McFerrin was performing on the State University campus at the Crane School of Music. The exact year of the concert, I remember not, but I do recall that it was some time after McFerrin's 1988 pop hit "Don't Worry, Be Happy," one of the very few a cappella songs to actually chart on top 40 radio. This song was noticeably absent from McFerrin's set for the concert my family attended.

I don't know what possessed my mother to bring myself and my two younger brothers to see this particular show, but I remember being impressed by the performance. True, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" - the only song my pre-teen ears would have recognised wasn't performed, but McFerrin's decision to dive into his classical and jazz work certainly left a positive impression upon this young listener.

I mention Bobby McFerrin because, in the word of popular music, a cappella performances are next to unheard of. While Björk can't exactly be classified as "pop," she has certainly sold far more albums than Rockapella or Diamanda Galás (whose Schrei X is technically an avant-garde a cappella album). The fact of the matter is that crafting a song, to say nothing of a song cycle, where the sole instrument voice (either solo or overdubbed) is a considerable undertaking - one that most pop and rock singers can't handle because, frankly, many pop and rock singers can't hold a tune in a fucking bucket.

No mere mortal musician, it should come as no surprise that Björk would eventually follow her muse towards tackling an a cappella album. Medúlla is an intimate, yet lush affair, Björk's voice taking centre stage, alternately being her own accompaniment and sharing that responsibility with numerous other vocal artists (including Mike Patton, Robert Wyatt, Rahzel, Dokaka and Icelandic and British Choirs).

Medúlla is not a difficult listen, but it is a certainly a seductive album. One is hard pressed not to dive in and swim through the sonic layers making up this work. Individual songs matter less as the whole is sequenced perfectly - like a well thought out journey to exotic destinations. I could list "stand out" tracks, but what would be the point when this is a CD which demands to be listened to from front to back in the order Björk chose to place the songs on it.