Björk - Post

Almost immediately, Björk’s 1993 effort, Debut, was critically acclaimed… in the UK. In the US, however, the album received generally mixed reviews. Aw, man! What’s going to happen with the sales, then? Oh, they exceeded expectations?! Debut sold just over 7 million records, and to this date, it is Björk’s most sold album. That’s right! In an instant, Björk was in the mainstream. Now with essentially a dance pop record in her soon-to-be stacked catalogue, she thought it would be a good idea to shift to a darker tone. After Björk was done promoting Debut through touring, she got back to recording in late 1994, and then before your very eyes, Post was released on June 7, 1995.

Something that I just want to get out of the way already, this is much better than Debut. Now that that’s over with, let’s talk about the album! We open Post up with Army Of Me, a threatening and ear-piercing trip hop song that just immediately hooks you, the song just brings you into this world. (Come here, yup, you’re listening to this album NOW.) This is one of the most popular songs from Björk and it totally deserves the attention it has gotten already. Same goes with Hyperballad, which is a hyper… ballad! (Boo.) The song is about Björk and how she feels when in a relationship, when what she does to cope within this relationship; in this case, throwing forks and knives off a cliff. The Modern Things is a song that uses minimal instruments to convey the message of the fact that cars are made out of metal. She mentions the cliff from Hyperballad again, too. But with this new sound that Björk has made, it caught me off-guard to hear jazz… again! The cover of It’s Oh So Quiet is masterfully done, and it’s not like the other songs, it has a full orchestra of wind instruments! (Huh?) It sounds like you’re watching a musical movie, and Björk just broke into the song. If you don’t see that in your mind, watch the music video and tell me what you see now. Enjoy is quite a weird song, but I like it because of how dissonant it sounds. I thought it was going to be a much different song until 0:11. The synth at the beginning, the pulse that comes in later in the song, and Björk’s vocals all sound like they were recorded for different songs, but when it comes together, it just sounds great! Björk can do pretty much anything with her music, and it can still sound good! What an even more amazing first half than Debut! But just like that album, the second half is lacking.

Okay, Post’s second side isn’t as flawed as Debut’s, but the five-track run from Army Of Me to Enjoy left such a big impression on me, to the point where the quality drop on this album could possibly be worse than Debut’s. Cover Me and Headphones are songs that I can barely remember off the top of my head, You’ve Been Flirting Again is my least favourite song on here because first of all, I can barely hear Björk on this one, and secondly, who mixed this song? I Miss you has these loud brass sections and crazy beats, and although I do like this song, even those elements of the song still don’t make it as memorable as the songs that I’m going to mention right now. Isobel and Possibly Maybe, a song about being isolated and married to yourself, while the other is about the failed relationship between Björk and French photographer Stéphane Sednaoui, who actually directed the Big Time Sensuality and this song’s music videos. With Post, Björk got a lot more personal with her songwriting, which could easily make the music more relatable to other people, including me. That’s what makes Post great; while Debut sounds all jolly, Post contrasts that record by having darker overtones. I love on how both of these have completely different sounds from each other, not only lyrically, but noticing that Post is actually very well polished compared to Debut, as well as the songs on here. They don’t drag as much as the ones on Debut, and this is why I think Post is better than Debut, like I said earlier. Concluding this review, Post shows Björk’s exceptional improvements in her music, to the point where it is pretty much a near perfect album. (Also, the second half on Debut is less better than Post’s.)

Favourite Tracks: Army Of Me, Hyperballad, The Modern Things, It’s Oh So Quiet, Enjoy, Isobel, Possibly Maybe, I Miss You

Least Favourite Track: You’ve Been Flirting Again