Bjork - 'Declare Independence'
It heartens me that there鈥檚 still a place in the world of popular music for Bjork, you know. While we may be past the point in time where she routinely scores Top 10 hits (a quick glance at everyhit.co.uk points out to me that said period in fact only lasted from November 1995 to February 1996, but my point still stands), there鈥檚 still a hearty audience out there for her albums, and I think it does us all good to have somebody like her constantly striving to reinvent the wheel, even going so far as to be deliberately inaccessible ('Medulla', for example) in her unending quest to push the boundaries of pop.
Interestingly, while I would hardly call 鈥楧eclare Independence鈥 a radio-friendly song, it feels like a surprisingly by-numbers effort from Bjork. It almost serves as a companion piece to 1995鈥檚 鈥楢rmy of Me鈥, as though telling part of the same story from a different angle. It features the same blisteringly militaristic tempo, and the same glassy, cold vocal performance from Bjork, only this time it revolves around the central refrain of 鈥渄eclare independence, don鈥檛 let them do that to you鈥, gradually growing louder and more shrill until it leaves her with the choice of either stopping or erupting altogether. I won鈥檛 spoil the surprise by telling you which one it is.
My slight disappointment from this song is that it鈥檚 a little too easy to see where it鈥檚 going to go - the scope of the song is limited, and you can tell from the outset that the initial calm suggestion is going to turn into a screaming demand before our time is up. Coming from most other artists, this wouldn鈥檛 necessarily be a penalising factor, but Bjork鈥檚 built such a reputation on defying expectation and subverting convention that I did feel slightly let down by the eventual conclusion. That鈥檚 a minor gripe, however; the attitude and delivery of the vocals are spot-on, and there鈥檚 enough variety in the orchestration to make up for any shortcomings in the structure.
I used to listen to a lot of Bjork when I was a teenager, and whenever my mum caught me listening to her, or even if one of her records came on the radio while we were in the car, she鈥檇 switch it off and lecture me at length on what a cacophony of pointless noise it all was. One thing struck me while I was listening to this song: my mum would absolutely hate it. Which means Bjork鈥檚 definitely still doing something right.
Download: Out now
CD Released: January 21st
(Steve Perkins)
Comments
i am g3ttin in2 a song call3d solja boi it is wick loads of p3ps no the danc3 2 it it is wick my b3ssi3s we all stand in a lin3 nd do it go on2 you tube nd typ3 soulja boy itll cum up listen to it .xxxxxx luvin u all if u read dis kay-louise is in da hous3