It's true that Volta is not a return to Björk's past pop glories - it's much, much better than that.
To put it briefly, I’ll claim that Volta is Björk’s best album yet. It is the most perfect and the most immaculate, beyond any doubt in my mind.
Volta is a weird mess of an album, but it's also Björk's most approachable and immediate since Homogenic.
This sixth album finds her, at least notionally, offering something for those who like Fun Bjork and those who appreciate dress-eating Art Bjork.
Billed as a return to "danceable and upbeat" sounds after a string of more experimental albums, Volta is actually a flinty, abrasive record, full of anger and bewilderment.
Volta is a strong album with memorable, remarkable tracks that have great variety, so much that the album loses cohesion.
There are no eargasms along the lines of "Hyperballad", "Bachelorette", or "5 Years", but the whole thing is agreeable.
Volta could very easily sound scattered, but this isn't the case. Instead, it finds the perfect balance between the vibrancy of her poppier work in the '90s and her experiments in the 2000s.
Volta is a hotch-potch, a heady brew of strange and unsettling ingredients hop-scotched around by an artist who, a decade and a half since launching her solo career, still sounds like no-one else.
Volta is arguably Bjork's loosest and most ruminative record, and though it touches on everything she's ever done, it's not as gripping or coherent as her best stuff.
Every song on Volta sounds like it was birthed in no fewer than 10 months, if not five years.
By no measure is Volta a great album, but it is quite good. And, the deeper you delve, the more it has to offer.
While Bjork's past sounds are arguably better than most, Volta is perhaps the first Bjork effort that looks backwards instead of forward into the future.
Where Volta intends to be primal and liberating, it too often feels crude and slapdash.
Despite instruments having been deemed "so over" when she released the entirely vocal Medulla, Björk uses a full complement on Volta - though, typically, not quite the ones you expect.
Where even her most divisive albums have managed to push her artistic boundaries, Volta feels limp and strangely empty-- almost unfinished.
Volta is one of those pretty-bad records that may stick around, may sound better in a few years.
While Volta features a couple of stripped-down lullabies that find her softly whispering over what sounds like a koto recorded underwater, they seem less like fully realized ideas than rough demo sketches.
[Björk Album Discography Dive #6/10 - Volta (2007)]
Debut + Homogenic + Medúlla = Volta?
This seems to be a return to Björk’s roots. It’s clear that she’s gone back to her earlier ‘clusterfuck of styles’ sound while also including many of the elements from the chaotic good that permeated throughout Medúlla, minus the acapella and beatboxing of course.
First off I love how you can hear bits and pieces from the main characteristics of each ... read more
discography dive - 6/10 (Björk)
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Volta is essentially Björk’s The King of Limbs. 75 critic score, 71 user score, yet deserving of a much higher rating in my opinion. This album absolutely contains some of my favorite Björk songs, especially tracks like “Declare Independence”, "Earth Intruders", and "Hope". The electronic components combined with the regular Björk qualities adds a special flavor to the album that makes it incredible- ... read more
This might be the strangest/most random album cover she has, and that’s saying a lot…
Bjork is constantly getting weirder as I continue through her discography. Volta is a project that has a lot of solid moments, and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. A lot of the sounds on here closely feel like they relate to Medulla, but also there’s some stranger moments. Declare Independence is one of those moments, and it’s my favorite song on here. I just love how ... read more
Despite my complaints about most of this album, I actually quiet like the first song, “Earth Intruders”. The marching beat and distant operatic vocals on “Earth Intruders” give it a wonderfully militant vibe to it. It’s also a total bop.
“Wanderlust” isn’t very good. The dance beat is kind of annoying. It doesn’t convey any emotions and the beat does not make me want to dance.
The beat also kind of buries the horns and its crinkly quality ... read more
1 | Earth Intruders 6:13 | 88 |
2 | Wanderlust 5:51 | 90 |
3 | The Dull Flame of Desire 7:30 | 78 |
4 | Innocence 4:06 | 83 |
5 | I See Who You Are 4:07 | 78 |
6 | Vertebrae By Vertebrae 5:03 | 77 |
7 | Pneumonia 5:14 | 74 |
8 | Hope 3:35 | 75 |
9 | Declare Independence 4:13 | 81 |
10 | My Juvenile 4:03 | 70 |
#12 | / | musicOMH |
#19 | / | Q Magazine |
#24 | / | MOJO |
#24 | / | Treble |
#30 | / | Paste |
#40 | / | No Ripcord |
#42 | / | Gigwise |