BJÖRK: VOLTAÏC (2009)
CD I: 1) Wanderlust; 2)
Hunter; 3) Pleasure Is All Mine; 4) Innocence; 5) Army Of Me; 6) I Miss You; 7)
Earth Intruders; 8) All Is Full Of Love; 9) Pagan Poetry; 10) Vertebrae By
Vertebrae; 11) Declare Independence.
CD II: 1) Earth
Intruders (XXXChange Remix); 2) Innocence (Simian Mobile Disco Remix); 3)
Declare Independence (Matthew Herbert Remix); 4) Wanderlust (Ratatat Remix);
5) The Dull Flame Of Desire (Modeselektor Remix for Girls); 6) Earth Intruders
(Lexx Remix); 7) Innocence (Graeme Sinden Remix); 8) Declare Independence
(Ghostigital Remix); 9) The Dull Flame Of Desire (Modeselektor Remix for Boys);
10) Innocence (Alva Noto Unitxt Remodel); 11) Declare Independence (Black Pus
Remix); 12) Innocence (Simian Mobile Disco Dub Remix).
I would not bother with this one, honestly. Volta was not Björk at her very best,
and neither is this accompanying piece, or, rather, multi-set of accompanying
pieces. In its shortest incarnation, Voltaïc
is just one CD, capturing a live performance recorded without a live audience
at the Olympic Studios. In its longest incarnation, the set also includes a live
DVD (recorded with live audiences in Paris
and Reykjavik), a DVD of musical videos, and a separate CD of multiple remixes
of Volta songs, similarly to the Telegram album but perhaps a little
less conceptual and autonomous in execution. Plus artwork, of course, and all
sorts of various goodies for people to argue about (crass commercialism or
heartfelt gift for the fans?).
This brief and somewhat displeased review will
discuss only the CDs. The first one, of all the wealth of live material
released by the singer, is probably the least useful. It sounds like an experiment
— would it be possible to completely trick the listener into thinking that he
is dealing with a polished studio re-recording rather than a «spontaneous» live
performance? Yes, it would. Now what? The Volta
songs all sound almost exactly the same as their studio counterparts, and the
others, even if they do modify the arrangements (for instance, using horns instead
of strings on ʽHunterʼ and ʽAll Is Full Of Loveʼ), still allow for no real
spontaneity. Of interest only for hardcore fans who thrive on each and every
nuance.
The second CD, the remixes, is at least
formally much more creative than the first one, but still, it ain't no Telegram. Because Telegram was an artsy experience — all sorts of people who were,
you could say, on the cutting edge of «technological art» back then, gathered
together to pool their vision with Björk's in a variegated and stimulating mind
meld. The Volta Mixes, on the other
hand, seem to pursue a much more pragmatic goal — this is a strictly
club-oriented dance album, going along well with some MDMA, a light show, and a
vague realization that you are being stimulated by a 44-year old pretender and
you don't bloody care.
Most of the remixes belong to fashionable DJs (XXXChange)
or electronic experimentators (Matthew Herbert) or other people, information on
whom is not even available on Wikipedia, but the results are always the same — psychedelic
body muzak with chopped-up, spliced and treated fragments of Björk's spirit
floating in and out more like a symbolic guide-and-protector than with any
serious purpose. Honestly, it would make more sense to write about all these
artists than pretend that The Volta
Mixes represent different views on how to show Björk songs from some
unexpected side. I am not saying that the mixes «suck» — they're fairly imaginative,
and different versions of the same song often sound nothing alike — but where Telegram was like a long line of fashion
designers, each dressing the girl in his/her own haute couture, The Volta
Mixes produces no such impression. All they do is just sample the tracks to
fit their own visions, which often have nothing whatsoever to do with the Volta vision.
For fairness' sake, I must say that the live
DVD, of which I have caught some glimpses, is far more entertaining than the
rest of this stuff — the Paris show is particularly crazy, colorful, and
energetic, even if it often comes close to vulgar kitsch (not something I could
ever say of the Vespertine shows). But
whether you will want to splurge on the whole package will ultimately depend on
whether you agree with me that post-Vespertine
Björk is a messy, confused, and generally dissatisfactory experience, or prefer
to think that the lady has simply become «different», but her music still
makes sense, shows depth, and/or sets trends. As far as my opinion is
concerned, Voltaïc is simply the
perfectly adequate companion to Volta
— mediocre (downright bad in places) album, suitably mediocre paraphernalia. No
big surprise there.
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