Album Review: Björk – Debut

Hello everyone, Frostburg’s resident music critic Chris Evans here with another album review. With this weeks review I wanted to do a review of an album from an artist who has most definitely cemented her legacy in the music industry as a solo artist over that past 20 plus years, Björk. This Icelandic singer/songwritter/musician has become synonymous for her critically acclaimed style of electronic music that has been a staple in her career since 1993. Björk just released her latest LP “Vulnicura” on January 20 and with the release of her ninth studio album I decided to do a review of the Icelandic artists first album “Debut” for people who wanted to get into Björk’s catalog of albums.

Most consider Björk to be a pioneer in the music industry. She was one of the first artists to bring electronic dance music to the mainstream with her 1993 album “Debut”. Throughout the 1990’s Björk would incorporate different styles into her music such as house music, jazz, trip hop, art rock, and alternative to create some of the most innovative and eclectic avant-garde music during that time.

Not only does Björk have a unique style, but she has an amazing voice to back up her music. Her voice is so powerful yet elegant and sweet that even a simple ad-lib will stick with you for a while. Björk has also been able to work with a number of different artists throughout her career. For example, she was featured on Death Grips latest album “The Powers That B Part 1” in such an odd manner but one that just fit perfectly. She was pretty much sampled in a number of songs with just vocal cuts but the vocal cuts fit so perfectly with the production that you wouldn’t even really notice Björk was featured on the album.

Though Björk had been performing for a number of years prior to “Debut” it was not until she made this album that she would gain mainstream attention. From the beginning of this album with “Human Behavior” you find yourself attracted to this voice that sounds so heavenly and loud over this heavy drum beat and industrial sounds. A number of songs on here capture that true early 90’s electronic dance sound like the second song on this album “Crying” which has this piano playing through the song that irritates me a little bit but not enough to take me out of the album.

Björk was good at changing up the mood in the album from track to track. Like on the song “Like Someone In Love” how it turns into this sweet love song that has this wonderful harp playing in the background as though you can picture yourself in the moment. She is also able to get pretty ethereal to accompany this sound of lush instrumentation.

Throughout “Debut” Björk is able to transition between upbeat, pop and slow soft love songs. The final track on this album “Play Dead” finalizes this album in such a grandiose manner that it quite possibly is the best song on this album. Björk comes in so strong over this grand orchestral production that you feel satisfied after listening to this.

For those who would like to get into Björk’s back catalog of music then “Debut” is definitely the perfect album to listen to.