Medulla

I finally get this - well not completely, but enough to enjoy the entire album. When I first bought the album (probably in the first week of release), I listened, and didn't really like it, then listened again, and got to like a few bits. I hadn't had it on since these couple of plays... until now.

Now Björk albums have often had some challenging or unusual elements before, but you've always been able to get into bits of them straight away, and the whole thing after a couple of plays. With Medulla however, the entire album is based on experimental choral music, and it is all challenging. It goes beyond using choirs (although it uses them lots) and uses throat singers (with a very unusual sound), Björk's voice, and some other guest singers (such as Robert Wyatt), sampled multi-tracked, and generally mashed up. This was very tough listening when I listened to it many months ago (and this even with my, by then, wide taste in music).

So what would happen at about half past 11 last night, but I get a strange urge to listen to it again. Maybe my mind had be processing it secretly in the background all this time, trying to understand it, and finally thought it had an answer. So I put it on, and it is a revelation (musically). Suddenly, I enjoy the rythms, the sound, the experience. I can see beyond saying "it's experimental - not sure I like experimental", and see all the richness in these voices. So now I recommend this album. Buy it, listen to it, put it away, and wait. It will be in your CD player again - one day - and then you will love it!