Bjork - Selmasongs (Dancer In The Dark - Original Soundtrack) (CD 2000)

From the start, I have to say, I consider Bjork to be a genius - to the extent that those tunes of hers I don't like, I have to assume I just don't get them.

That said, this is, in my opinion, an absolutely phenomenal album. She doesn't so much re-write the rulebook, as rip it up, throw the shreds in the air, and dance through the confetti. So many things in it shouldn't work, but do; a characteristic it shares with the equally masterful film. Even when using the rhythmical clanking of industrial machinery, or the clatter of a train crossing a rusty bridge, as the basis of songs, surprisingly pleasing melodies emerge.

At turns poignantly mournful, insanely danceable, or darkly ominous, this album induces nostalgia for half-remembered retro-futuristic dreams. It is, however, the breathtaking, disjointed, jangling joie de vivre of ‘In the Musicals’ which most captures the heart.

If you don’t buy this album, your ears may sneak off in the night to find a more deserving head. Indispensable.