Friday 7 October 2022 02:43 AM ADRIAN THRILLS: Still crazy (but utterly brilliant) after all these years... it ... trends now
BJÖRK: Fossora (One Little Independent)
Verdict: Maverick singer digs deep
Rating: ****
THE CULT: Under The Midnight Sun (Black Hill)
Verdict: Goth rock tour de force
Rating: ****
BUSH: The Art Of Survival (BMG)
Verdict: Tired and trusted
Rating: **
Maybe one day, Björk will give us an album that will fill dancefloors like Madonna, or give Harry Styles a run for his money in stadium-pleasing bangers.
She might even come up with a few songs you can 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, had only a fleeting relationship with traditional verses and choruses. The former was a gloomy break-up album inspired by the end of her relationship with American artist Matthew Barney. The latter, a pastoral affair about finding new love, was dominated by flutes.
Fossora, on first hearing, isn't for the faint-hearted either. It begins with clattering beats and honking clarinets. It contains a wordless choral interlude and some tracks that cry out for a decent tune.
Björk, who wore a dress apparently fashioned out of a de-boned swan to the Oscars in 2001, isn't one for middle of the road moves, and Fossora is sometimes a challenging listen. But it's a fascinating piece of work that will worm its way under your skin.
There are two main strands to the music. The first is a variation on gabber, a brash branch of techno that originated in Holland.
Björk, who wore a dress apparently fashioned out of a de-boned swan to the Oscars in 2001, isn't one for middle of the road moves, and Fossora is sometimes a challenging listen.
The second is a more conventional (if such a word can ever be applied to Björk) strain of classical chamber music featuring trombone, timpani, woodwind and pizzicato strings.
On certain songs, including Fungal City, a duet with New York singer Josiah Wise (aka Serpentwithfeet), she tries to perform both styles simultaneously. The track opens with a delicate clarinet motif before the thumping beats of Indonesian dance duo Gabber Modus Operandi take it somewhere else entirely.
There are intriguing lyrical themes, too. The album title is the feminine form of the Latin word for digger, and Björk uses images of the undergrowth — moss, mushrooms, moles and the 'sunken mystery' of the forest floor — as metaphors for death, decay, new life and her family roots.
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