Bjork`s at her quirky best on `Selmasongs`

In "Selmasongs, Bjork bridges the acoustic bombast of a full orchestra and the experimental quirkiness of industrial factory noise. And she does it with that voice. Bjork`s high-pitched, slightly sexy, sometimes scratchy, other times rasping voice holds together this playfully somber collection of seven songs.

This playground of vocal experimentation is what`s expected from Bjork, who at the ripe old age of 35 is a seasoned musician. Her first album was released in her native Iceland when she was 11. Today, she`s known for her six-year stint with the Sugarcubes, and for her impressive solo career, which is notable for its delightfully un-rock-like experimental sound.

"Selmasongs" is the soundtrack to "Dancer in the Dark," the critically acclaimed dark musical starring Bjork and directed by Lars Von Trier. Bjork`s character in the movie, Selma, floats from fantasy to reality. Certainly the album`s musical shifts between factory drills, cogs and cranks, and ephemeral bells and strings does just that.

After the sound of a freight train drifts by in the intro to "I`ve Seen It All," Bjork`s voice slips in and a back-and-forth round of vocals with Radiohead`s Thom Yorke. Factory sounds and instrumentals play off each other in the background. Their voices meld and twist and float, and Bjork manages to convey an adorable feeling of longing. Just when you can`t take her Icelandic cuteness anymore, she belts out a low note full force.

"Scatterheart`s" light, tip-toe bells that fade into Bjork singing "black night has fallen" will have you feeling like you`re dancing under a starry sky. Even the industrial-factory sounds retain a softness due to Mark Bell`s skillful mixing (Bjork wrote all the music).

"Cvalda," an energetic scamp of a tune, performed by Bjork and Catherine Deneuve, best captures the mood of dreamy sobriety this album tries to convey, and also is most evocative of Bjork`s 1995 album, "Post."

While "Selmasongs," doesn`t have the wide-eyed vibrancy of that solo-effort, it does have a thoroughly unique and wonderful take on the modern-day musical. And for that this Icelandic pixie deserves a great big train whistle ovation.

"Warning"; Green Day; Reprise.

If you`re going to make an album that relies on light, sweet-sounding, guitar-driven pop-rock, your songs have to have great hooks. Some classics spring to mind: The Beatles` "Love Me Do" or Buddy Holly`s "Peggy Sue," for example. With "Warning," Green Day has made an attempt at this kind of rock, and succeeds admirably in crafting some very catchy tunes. However, those essential great hooks are nowhere to be found.

With these 12 tracks, Green Day has gotten rid of the heavy guitars that fans of 1994`s "Dookie" and 1995`s "Insomniac" are familiar with, and dropped the experimental sound of 1997`s "Nimrod." "Warning," the band`s sixth album, features breezy acoustic and electric guitars.

While many of the songs on "Warning" will get stuck in your head, none will remain there for very long. Billie Joe Armstrong`s lyrics are usually too cliche, or sometimes just too boring. Always to be counted on for some energetic punk-style grist, Armstrong falls off the mark here.

The chorus in the first single off the album, "Minority," earnestly states, "I want to be the minority/I don`t need your authority/down with the moral majority." The 1970s punk aesthetic just doesn`t fly in 2000 and the song sounds absurdly dated.

The album`s title track is also a bland, railing against "authority" in the punk tradition: "Sanitation, Expiration date, Question Everything? Or shut up and be the victim of authority." The tightly constructed rhythms just don`t hold sway to these saccharine lyrics.

To Armstrong`s song-writing credit, the happy-sounding tunes don`t offend the ear. And his homage to rock history is duly noted. Billie Joe quotes Petula Clark`s "Downtown" in the melody and some of the lyrics in "Waiting." He also borrows some chords from The Who`s "My Generation" in "Jackass." However, the yawning attempt at rebel punk-rock in "Warning" comes nowhere near the rockin` angst of The Who and riffs just don`t catch like Petula`s do.

(c) Copley News Service

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: Emily Friedlander