Mouth's Cradle, by Björk, on Medúlla (2004)
Björk's talent to surprise us with each new album seems endless. With Medúlla, she dropped most of the ethereal electronic backgrounds to concentrate on vocal sounds. Percussions, samples, background textures; voices are pervasive on this record. But unlike bands such as Bauchklang, whose art lies in reproducing multiple musical styles entirely a cappella, the islandic fairy built her own ensemble of alien sounds and ambience out of it.
This impressive work is especially remarkable on the present song, Mouth's Cradle. Voices become environment, drums, bass, textures, among which dances Björk's inimitable tone. Playing with dissonances and upbeats with tireless perfection, she crafts an audio jewel of tensions, a vocal masterpiece of sound and rhythm.
Beautiful, smartly and simply.
