Post

I had attempted listening to Björk a couple of times before, but to be honest, her music is not something that is immediately all that easy to process. Of course, whether it was this album or Vespertine (the only ones that I had attempted to listen to yet), I always had much admiration for Björk's production and her talent in both performance and songwriting, but there was not that much that I could have attached myself onto and I personally never thought that it was all that memorable. Now, after finally listening to an entire body of work of hers, I think it's safe to say that I want to hear more, because Post is a fantastic album.

This isn't her most popular album, and I think there's clearly a lot of potential being presented to you on this project, but I do have to say that it wasn't necessarily the most consistent or cohesive journey. I don't really think (except for a few) that these tracks flow into each other all that way, and the quality varies from phenomenal to sort-of-just-okay, but the stuff on this album that is amazing is absolutely brilliant. I mean, even her less interesting work in Post still has a lot of intriguing things going on within it. There is so much fiery passion within her vocals and the often-loud and striking instrumentals that are backing her amazing singing help to add a contrast that only really Björk could pull off, and thankfully, both of these elements are equally high-quality and impactful. Something like Hyper-Ballad feels like a musical-production miracle to me, honestly. The way that track fuses Björk's dramatic vocals with the insane beat and deep rhythm of the electronic instrumentation while still capturing a Pop-spirit in it all is seriously mind-blowing. The prior track, Army of Me, is not bad or anything, in fact, it's one of my favorites, but that was just a very energetic and angry Pop song, whereas Hyper-Ballad simultaneously achieves to feel incredibly art- and tasteful. Björk presents all of her best sides on this record, and especially the Pop side is presented so very well on this record by a track like her cover of It's Oh So Quiet, easily one of her most exciting vocal performances. Although the instrumental may feel much less intriguing than the other songs on the LP, her energy alone that is delivered to you through her voice on that song is enough to make you feel so damn delighted by it. I am in love with a lot of the songs on this project, though, to be fair, I don't think this is the best album experience you could get, and I'd imagine Björk's later projects will be able to top this one.

Favorites: Army of Me, Hyper-Ballad, It's Oh So Quiet, Enjoy, Possibly Maybe, Headphones

Least Favorite: Isobel (not a bad song, but outside of the strings in the back, the tracks feels a little meandering to me)