You don’t live in the same style from day to day, unexpected things happen that are beyond your control. “I think not sticking to any particular musical style makes the album real. “I wanted the album to be pop music that everybody can listen to,” she said. As someone who detested musical snobbery, Björk was adamant that her music was accessible to all. However avant-garde the sonic soundscapes, the juxtaposition of fusing them to real situations made them a direct line to her fans. That’s this record.” – Björkĭespite Debut’s diverse range of influences, Björk’s honest lyrics and impassioned vocal delivery gave the album a sense of cohesion and ensured the songs were relatable to listeners. Life isn’t always the same… unexpected things happen. I think not sticking to any particular musical style makes the album real. “I wanted the album to be pop music that everybody can listen to. The emphasis was on the songs themselves and whatever was needed we used.” I didn’t want it to be the jazz people over here, the rock’n’rollers over there and the classical people over here, so we had a harp player, a jazz saxophone player, an Indian string section.Įveryone was delighted to be allowed to sneak out of their usual category and try something different. My target was to break down the stupid barriers that existed. “I wanted to include a mixture of sounds, like harps, saxophones, techno beats,” Björk said. With their union drawing inspiration from a far-flung list of locations from Bristol to Bombay, Iceland to Ibiza, their creative collision resulted in Björk’s every musical aspiration being realised, however outlandish. It’s hard for me to take full credit for them because we were so dependent on each other. “With me and Nellee it was very intimate – even though I wrote all the songs. But then I met him, got to know him, got to hear about his fabulous ideas and it ended up with him producing the whole album. I thought Nellee was too ‘good taste’ for my liking. Myself, I like to go out and dance to hardcore or industrial techno, hard beats with an experimental edge. I like Soul II Soul, but mainly when they’re on the radio. “A friend of mine suggested we work together and I was a bit suspicious to begin with,” Björk explained to The Face magazine in 1993. Though she had originally planned to work with different producers depending on the style of music she was working on at the time, an introduction to Nellee Hooper was instrumental in bringing Debut to fruition. Her relationship with DJ Dominic Thrupp was her connection to London’s clubland, enabling her to build a network of like-minded creatives with whom she planned to collaborate to bring her ideas to life. Having visited Manchester to collaborate with dance pioneers 808 State, she witnessed first-hand the city’s nightlife, throwing herself into its vibrant hedonism. “I had to go to lots of them, but when I found the right ones, they had atmosphere and miracles happened.” So, I started going to clubs in 1988 and I just became obsessed with them. I was so disappointed because it was so stagnant, nobody was taking any risks. “When I got to the UK and we had a day off between touring, I would go and try to see as many concerts as I could. “When The Sugarcubes started to get attention abroad and I got the opportunity to travel in 1988, I was so excited to see live bands,” Björk says. While Debut’s otherworldly eclecticism is light years away from The Sugarcubes’ output, Björk’s transition from feisty frontwoman to electro enchantress had been years in the making. The singer spent her formative years as part of Reykjavik art collective Bad Taste and in punk bands Spit & Snot and Kukl, Björk achieved international success with The Sugarcubes. Having emerged as a child star in her native Iceland with an eponymous album at the age of 11, Björk had already amassed 16 years’ experience in the music business by the time she released her solo breakthrough, Debut, in July 1993. Following the break-up of Icelandic indie outfit The Sugarcubes, Björk released THE 1993 masterpiece, Debut, the record that was to establish her as a true pop maverick
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |