Medulla
| Bjork
Medulla
Medúlla is the fifth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk.[nb 1] It was released on 30 August 2004 in the United Kingdom by One Little Indian Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. After her electronic–influenced previous album Vespertine (2001), Björk intended to make an album almost entirely a cappella constructed with human vocals. For the project, she collaborated with vocal artists such as Mike Patton of rock band Faith No More, beatboxers Rahzel and Dokaka, as well as Inuit throat singer Tanya Gillis. The album's title derives from the Latin word for "marrow".
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
It's an outrageous conceit from Iceland's most notorious experimental export, and a huge risk for her career after the relatively conventional, diehard-pleasing Vespertine. .
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Slant Magazine
Medúlla, a reference to the inner core of certain organs or body structures (the essence of things, if you will), finds Björk forsaking customary electronic instrumentation for human beatboxing, whistling, sighing, grunting, and hyperventilating courtesy of The Roots’ Rahzel, Inuit throat singer Tagaq, and Faith No More’s Mike Patton.
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BBC Music
Medúlla has some high points, and it never gets boring, but it still left me feeling rather confused. It was recorded in 18 different locations, and you can tell - the end product feels disjointed and at times claustrophobic. Whereas previous albums like Vespertine were real growers, some people may lose patience with this one . . . But I still can't wait for her next album.
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Stereogum
Admittedly, this is a record devoted largely to ideas, rather than songs; still, cuts like "Who Is It" and "Triumph of a Heart" (which features -- shit you not -- mewing) demonstrate that Björk had not forgotten how to structure a pop tune.
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A.V. Music Club
Medulla swoops and hums like a typical Björk album, showcasing her spastic and solemn sides in dramatic songs that suck up all the air around them.
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Rolling Stone
Medulla’s awe-inspiring architecture of sound is built almost exclusively from voices, including a few human beatboxes, veteran U.K. singer-songwriter Robert Wyatt, former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, the Icelandic and London choirs and Bjork herself, delivering her most expressive performances and compositions to date.
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Sputnik Music
An intense experiment in perfect equilibrium. An accomplishment of sorts, considering the fine line it's treading.
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Music OMH
There is no doubt that Björk has challenged herself and intends to challenge listeners – why else would her lyrics and song titles be black on a black background, meaning that readers have to squint against the light to read them?
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The Guardian
Medulla is playful and hymnal, sometimes surprisingly violent, often sombre but always full of awe.
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All Music
It's not an immediate album, but it is a fascinating one, especially for anyone interested in the world's oldest instrument being used in unexpected ways.
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Prefix Mag
Bjork has taken the high road with Medulla, the journey back into innocent fascination. Her world-music unity would imply a hope for peace and love, but all Bjork wants is understanding, a peace and love not in the world around you but within yourself.
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IGN
Continuing to weave in and out of her own singular sonic spectrum, Medulla unfolds with soft, quirky aplomb, revealing itself as a densely packed swirl of minimalistic energy.
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The New York Times
With ''Medulla,'' she pushes to a new extreme: most of the music is made with voices alone. While the album might seem to be a conceptual stunt, it finds gorgeous and startling new ways to extend Bjork's longtime mission: merging the earthy and the ethereal.
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Academia
Medúlla presents an uncompromising and heartfelt look at the human condition, concerning love, anger and loss as well as humanities oneness with nature.
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RTE
Closer 'The Triumph of a Heart' draws the proceedings close toward sanity, but is too little, too late to save a record that is ultimately a journey into experimentalist hell, Icelandic style, that nobody in their right mind would want to take. Avoid.
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Paste Magazine
music will always provide a means for imposing order on chaos. After all, there’s plenty of beauty to be found if you’ve got the sense to recognize it—even the deviant, mystifying variety Björk is adept at not only recognizing, but coaxing onto tape for our benefit.
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Silent Uproar
This album shows a maturing artist branching out into new things, absolutely defying anything stale by relying on past tricks of her repertoire, and creating something both intriguing to the non-fan and precious to the hardcores.
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North Tide Press
Medúlla is, on one hand, the most alien take on pop music I’ve ever come across in my time listening to and studying music on a wider scale. It’s dripping with vocal features and arrangements I can hardly comprehend.
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Diffuser
'Medúlla' belongs in the upper echelons of Björk’s catalog because it drastically expands the scope of her lyrics,
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