Volta

Björk - Volta
Critic Score
Based on 27 reviews
2007 Ratings: #196 / 717
Year End Rank: #46
User Score
2007 Rank: #211
Liked by 180 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Evening Standard

It's true that Volta is not a return to Björk's past pop glories - it's much, much better than that.

90
Tiny Mix Tapes

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.

83
A.V. Club

Volta is a weird mess of an album, but it's also Björk's most approachable and immediate since Homogenic.

80
DIY
From icy beatings to warm brass, this is glacial disco at its best.
80
The Observer

This sixth album finds her, at least notionally, offering something for those who like Fun Bjork and those who appreciate dress-eating Art Bjork.

80
Mojo

Volta bristles with life.

80
The Guardian

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.

80
Sputnikmusic

Volta is a strong album with memorable, remarkable tracks that have great variety, so much that the album loses cohesion.

80
No Ripcord

There are no eargasms along the lines of "Hyperballad", "Bachelorette", or "5 Years", but the whole thing is agreeable.

80
AllMusic

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.

80
Drowned in Sound
This is no sidestep, despite the recalling of past achievements; it takes one step back to fly a dozen forward, and leaves the listener bewildered at its incredible execution.
80
musicOMH

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.

80
NME
It’s an album defined by its identity crisis – dizzily slipping, as it does, from metal-electronica one moment to spooky chamber-pop the next.
70
SPIN
She channels that avant-trad feeling into the brassy arrangements, suitable for both a medieval Viking fortress or contemporary concert hall.
70
Rolling Stone

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.

70
Slant Magazine

Every song on Volta sounds like it was birthed in no fewer than 10 months, if not five years.

70
Paste
Though it may take time for this record to work its magic, when it does, the effect is well worth the effort.
70
PopMatters

By no measure is Volta a great album, but it is quite good. And, the deeper you delve, the more it has to offer.

70
Prefix
If Bjork’s approach to music has remained vital and untarnished, her willingness to cast herself as a wizened elder statesman is the album’s conspicuous weakness.
70
Under the Radar

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.

67
Entertainment Weekly

Where Volta intends to be primal and liberating, it too often feels crude and slapdash.

60
The Independent

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.

60
Q Magazine
Björk's least coherent album is also her most combative and politicised.
58
Pitchfork

Where even her most divisive albums have managed to push her artistic boundaries, Volta feels limp and strangely empty-- almost unfinished.

49
Coke Machine Glow

Volta is one of those pretty-bad records that may stick around, may sound better in a few years.

40
NOW Magazine

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.

KaitoNkmra
80

[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

jonahworkman
88

discography dive - 6/10 (Björk)

-

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

SnowyFighter
75

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

Spamman
48

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

xadencavex
80

such a fun project idk why yall hate it

serjtankian
80

serj tankian approved

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Track List

1Earth Intruders
6:13
88
2Wanderlust
5:51
90
3The Dull Flame of Desire
7:30
78
4Innocence
4:06
83
5I See Who You Are
4:07
78
6Vertebrae By Vertebrae
5:03
77
7Pneumonia
5:14
74
8Hope
3:35
75
9Declare Independence
4:13
81
10My Juvenile
4:03
70
Total Length: 49 minutes

Year End Lists

#12/musicOMH
#19/Q Magazine
#24/MOJO
#24/Treble
#30/Paste
#40/No Ripcord
#42/Gigwise
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Added on: June 14, 2011