Best album of the 90s? Possibly maybe! For her second album, Bjork and her cast of collaborators escaped to the Bahamas to record at Compass Point Studios, home of legendary sessions by Grace Jones, Bob Marley and more (bizarre rumors from these sessions depict Bjork recording vocals inside of a cave, on the beach with an extended microphone cord, or completely nude in the studio). Having satisfied her house ambitions on Debut, Bjork expands her palette to include industrial, IDM, modern classical and blunted trip-hop textures, recruiting Tricky, Deodato, Guy Sigsworth and Graham Massey (of 808 State). Nellee Hooper returns to lend a hand to six tracks, most notably the disarming tearjerker “Hyperballad”. Bjork’s sessions with Massey (“Army Of Me”, “The Modern Things”) predate Debut but were temporarily put on hold until the release of Post. The album contains some of Bjork’s most unforgettable performances, from Broadway-worthy “It’s Oh So Quiet” to the slow crackle of “Possibly Maybe”, which DJ Shadow sampled only a year later on Endtroducing. Post confirmed Bjork as the singular artist and world class singer we know her as today, flexing a cool allure over metallic downtempo beats or delivering an Earth-shaking showtunes performance on the same album in a way that only she could make work. Recommended.

• 180g black vinyl pressing
• original release year: 1995
  
• music label: One Little Indian 2015

reviewed by peanut dust 03/2017