Volta

Sound DNA

• Electronic
• Trip-Hop

• layered
• intense
• bohemian

About

Pop quiz: What’s Björk’s highest-ranking release on the US album charts? It would take either a superfan—or, perhaps, a 2000s trivia wiz—to guess <i>Volta</i>, the singer’s magnificently unruly 2007 opus. Before its release, Björk told the press she wanted to make something less serious this time around—an album that was, in her words, “full-bodied and really up.” As always, Björk had her own counterintuitive ideas of how to get to where she wanted. She reached out to Timbaland, the hitmaker known for waving his far-out production wand over superstars like JAŸ-Z, Aaliyah, and Missy Elliott. At the time, Timbaland was fresh off the multi-platinum triumph of Justin Timberlake’s <i>FutureSex/LoveSounds</i>; as a result, some listeners assumed his involvement would push Björk to the center of the pop zeitgeist. In the end, Timbaland’s name only shows up on a handful of <i>Volta</i> tracks. But he <i>does</i> help the album get off with a literal bang, thanks to the clattering, richly textured stomp of “Earth Intruders.” It’s a bracing swing away from the glacial, stately vocalizations of Björk’s 2004 album, <i>Medúlla</i>. And while “Earth Intruders” may have taken some Björk fans by surprise, the singer reminded Pitchfork that the tune was rooted to her musical past. “I mean, I love rhythms,” she said. “I started an all-girl punk band when I was 14 and I was the drummer, not the singer.” Timbaland isn’t the only guest star on <i>Volta</i>. “The Dull Flame of Desire,” featuring lyrics drawn entirely from a poem by the 19th-century Russian nobleman Fyodor Tyutchev, includes the ghostly vocals of ANOHNI. And techno pioneer Mark Bell of LFO also appears on two tracks, including “Declare Independence,” which received a suitably surreal video treatment from lauded French filmmaker Michel Gondry (<i>Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind</i>). That song’s blown-speaker chorus might as well double as a Björk manifesto: “Go to the top of your highest mountain/And raise your flag higher, higher.”

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits