BJÖRK: Fossora (A Little Independent)
Verdict: Maverick singer digs deep
Valuation: ****
THE CULT: Under the Midnight Sun (Black Hill)
Conclusion: goth rock tour de force
Valuation: ****
BUSH: The Art of Survival (BMG)
Conclusion: Tired and familiar
Valuation: **
Maybe one day Björk will give us an album that will fill the dance floors like Madonna, or Harry Styles will fight for his money with stadium-worthy bangers.
She might even come up with a few songs for you to sing in the shower. Fossora, it should be said now, is not that record.
The Icelandic maverick’s two most recent releases, Vulnicura and Utopia, have had only a fleeting relationship to traditional verses and choruses. The former was a somber breakup album inspired by the end of her relationship with American artist Matthew Barney. The latter, a pastoral affair about finding a new love, was dominated by flutes.
Fossora is also not for the faint of heart after the first listen. It starts with rattling beats and honking clarinets. It features a wordless choral interlude and a few tracks that cry out for a decent melody.
Björk, who wore what appeared to be a boned swan to the 2001 Academy Awards, isn’t the type to move in the middle of the street, and Fossora is a challenging audience at times. But it is fascinating work that will dig under your skin.
There are two main strands of music. The first is a twist on gabber, a cheeky branch of techno that originated in Holland.
Björk, who wore what appeared to be a boned swan to the 2001 Academy Awards, isn’t the type to move in the middle of the street, and Fossora is a challenging audience at times.
The second is a more conventional variant (if such a word can ever be applied to Björk) of classical chamber music with trombone, timpani, woodwinds and pizzicato strings.
route of the week
I LOVE YOU (ACTUALLY I LOVE) by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
THE Boss gets straight to the point with Frankie Wilson’s upbeat Motown standard, once a favorite of the northern soul scene. An excellent foretaste of next month’s cover album, the track is spiced with glockenspiel, organ and raspy saxophone.
On certain songs, including Fungal City, a duet with New York singer Josiah Wise (aka Serpentwithfeet), she tries to play both styles simultaneously. The track opens with a delicate clarinet motif before the pounding beats of Indonesian dance duo Gabber Modus Operandi take it elsewhere.
There are also intriguing lyrical themes. The album title is the feminine form of the Latin word for digger, and Björk uses imagery of the undergrowth – moss, mushrooms, moles and the “sunken secret” of the forest floor – as metaphors for death, decay, new life and her family roots.
There are two songs about her mother, Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir, who died in 2018 after a long illness, and one each about her two children. Getting your kids to sing on your records isn’t usually a good move, but here it fits perfectly with Fossora’s family undercurrents.
The tracks about Björk’s mother are particularly touching. “Into sad soil are our roots dug,” she laments on “Sorrowful Soil,” a eulogy that sounds like a Renaissance song. “You did well,” is her affectionate conclusion. Her son Sindri accompanies her on Ancestress.
Fossora is also not for the faint of heart after the first listen. It starts with rattling beats and honking clarinets
Their daughter Ísadóra, 20, is a guest on the great Her Mother’s House, a smooth, melodious number about the roots and wings of parenthood. Norwegian singer Emilie Nicolas also makes a wonderful cameo appearance on Allow, a jazzy piece that sees the return of Utopia’s “Flute Club”.
In her quest for progress, Björk sometimes goes too far. But Fossora, held together by her sizzling voice and on track to become her first Top 10 album in 15 years, is a record like no other that we’ll likely be listening to throughout the year.
This week also offers plenty of choice for those who prefer to lose themselves in crunching guitars. The Cult’s first album in six years signals a departure from US-friendly heavy metal and a return to the more Anglicized sound of 1985’s goth rock classic She Sells Sanctuary.
Singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy haven’t always been the easiest of bedfellows, but they’re on the same page on “Under The Midnight Sun.”
Astbury came up with the title after watching clips of a midsummer festival the group played in Finland in 1986 – where the sun never sets – and flashbacks to their early years abound.
Maybe one day Björk will give us an album that will fill the dance floors like Madonna, or Harry Styles will fight for his money with stadium-worthy bangers. Fossora, it should be said now, is not that record.
Originally from Bradford but now based in LA, the band recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales for the first time since the 1980s, and there’s a distinct post-punk punch in tracks like A Cut Inside, on in which Duffy’s shimmering chords evoke memories of the late John McGeoch, once guitarist for Siouxsie & The Banshees and Magazine.
More grandiose tendencies are also evident. The thread-decked Outer Heaven is overwrought. But the title track is sly and seductive, and Knife Through Butterfly Heart shows why director Oliver Stone tried (unsuccessfully) to recruit Astbury to play singer Jim Morrison in his 1991 film The Doors.
Loud guitars and meaty drums are even more prominent on Bush’s ninth album. Singer Gavin Rossdale describes The Art Of Survival as a record about the resilience of the human spirit.
It’s an admirable post-pandemic message – and on the powerful opening track, “Heavy Is The Ocean,” it feels good to have it back.
But despite some catchy hooks, they stick to a familiar routine. Ridiculed as Nirvana lite in the 1990s, they remain committed to the grunge era. Lyrically, too, Rossdale relies on the tried and tested. After addressing the dangers of robotic technology in Blood River 2020, he revisits the topic in More Than Machines.
They occasionally deviate from the norm. Judas Is A Riot is a party track that pulls its cap on rock ‘n’ roll classic Twist And Shout, and 1000 Years is an atmospheric ballad about lost love, but it’s hard to feel like they’re treading water to avoid.