731. Debut - Bjork

As a lover of chronology, I'd started to get into Bjork by focusing on her first album, and it took me a long time to bother moving onto Post, such was the depth of this particular LP. A week of re-listening to this on cold, dark mornings on the way to work sounded ideal to me.

Bjork's musical career started at the age of 11 when a cover of I Love to Love was broadcasts nationally in her native Iceland. She had some local success in her home country throughout the 70s and 80s, and the Sugarcubes made a name for themselves globally, selling over a million copies of their debut Life's Too good.  Following the split of the band in 1992, Bjork released her solo album the next year, to huge critical acclaim and slow, but eventually stellar, commercial success. She's gone on to become something of a subtle iconoclast, and is hugely influential in many fields outside of pop, as a recent exhibition at MOMA demonstrated.

Human Behaviour is probably the most interesting song lyrically, and the military drumming drives it along nicely. The industrial NIN-esque sound effects work well too, and hint at the variety of gems this album contains; so many get the perfect balance of ethereal wonder overlaying a mid 90s house banger. Crying has that great keys, synth and bass progression, and some cracking Bjork imagery. Venus as a Boy is just pure wonder and inquisition distilled into a song. More to Life than This is pretty clever with its po-mo stepping out of the party, but actually it's one of the more repetitive albums on the track. The following track, Like Someone in Love is a bit too saccharine for my tastes, and although I think I can hear a tongue in a cheek somewhere, it's either too subtle, or too imagined. Subtlety is not a feature of Big Time Sensuality which should be a club staple (it may be - I haven't been to a night club in years) with its keyboard riff and crisp drumming, and Bjork's cathedral-like voice overlaying everything. The burbling One Day is a modern day lullaby, but it's Violently Happy that just grew and grew for me this week, ending as one of my favourite on the album. Played loud on speakers, it just sounds so crisp and fresh. Play Dead is still my number one though, with its combination of strings, horns, breathy vocals and rumbling bass a slice of experimental pop perfection. It should be sampled everywhere, but I'm thankful that it hasn't been. And yes, it wasn't on the original release, but it was on the reissue, and I'm making the rules, so it's included.

What's great about this album is that you can't listen to it without picturing Bjork walking through an ice cave, entranced by the light patterns created by the striations on the walls, a look of bliss upon her face. It takes elements of naivety, early 90s dance music, glossolalia, and pure pop, and turns them into a masterpiece. Whilst it falls short some of the time (Aeroplane and The Anchor Song are interesting, but just not that great), the scope of the album is colossal, and to have the courage to kick off your solo career with this is something else.

Chloe's album rating: 8

Chloe's favourite track: 6. Big Time Sensuality

Olly's album rating: 8

Olly's favourite track: 12. Play Dead

From one kick-ass 90s female solo artist onto another - it's 917. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea by PJ Harvey. Blinding.