Selmasongs: Dancer In The Dark (2000 Film)
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Free Music Notes for Selmasongs: Dancer In The Dark (2000 Film)
Free Music Review: Great Music For A Great Movie
Hit: 5 Stars
By now, we've all come to expect unusual and uncompromising music from Bjork. And she consistently delivers in both of those areas. Well, her albums are not so unusual... maybe we just haven't caught up to them yet. Nevertheless, Selmasongs, even if it's only seven songs at 32 minutes, is just as an intense listening experience as you're going to find anywhere.Though there are harsh, mechanical sounds littered throughout, they are rendered quite human by Bjork's voice. The music itself seems at times like it is duetting with her (never mind that she has an ACTUAL duet with Radiohead's Thom Yorke). This album is not in any way a stopgap, something to keep fans happy until a REAL album comes out. No, this is as essential as any of her other albums; an example of her evolving music style.
Keep in mind that while it's not necessary to have seen Dancer In The Dark to enjoy and appreciate Selmasongs, it does give you a better understanding of what the songs mean... to see the context in which they were used. And I will say that having seen the movie, the songs have had a more emotional impact on me.
And what about the songs? Well, first of all there's the Overture, a common device in mucicals, which is a great way to start off the album. Short and sweet, it serves its purpose and bows out gracefully to make room for the other songs. It's followed by Cvalda, an inventive number which has Bjork scat singing amid the mechanical clutter and even has Catherine Deneuve chiming in. I've Seen It All is the Thom Yorke duet and though not a Radiohead fan, this works for me. It's melancholy but not pessimistic. Scatterheart sounds like a more traditional Bjork song (whatever that is). The next one, In The Musicals, is probably my favorite. It's heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. 107 Steps, thought by some to be filler, is more like a nice two minute vacation away from the rest of the album. And the final track, New World, is the perfect way to end things. Very inspired singing by Bjork.
My only gripe is the exclusion of Next To Last Song. Why why why leave this off? I'm sure they had their reasons (possibly for fear of giving away any part of the story) but still, Selmasongs could have been that much the better for it. I also would have liked to have seen her rendition of My Favorite Things included as well, but what can you do? And the versions of songs on the album are different than the ones as heard in the movie, but I like them both, so I'm fine with that (besides, I'll be getting the DVD when it comes out).
So what it all comes down to is: do you need Selmasongs? Well, if you're a Bjork fan, I'm preaching to the choir. If you have a passive interest in her music, it might serve you well to try this album, though it's certainly not where I would start. If you've never heard a single Bjork record at all, try Debut. If you like it, simply work your way up. I personally find Homogenic her most rewarding, and Selmasongs seems like the next logical step in terms of her music. Enjoy!
Free Music Review: Excellent Soundtrack
Hit: 5 Stars
Bjork wasn't content in just starring in a movie she had to produce and write the music for the film, culminating in this soundtrack.Two words only are needed to sum up this soundtrack, Simply Beautiful.Bjork is such a musical genius, she is up in another league of women musicians, shared by only a select few.
But what makes Bjork such a wonderful musician is how she creates the most un believeable songs,whether it is an orchestral masterpiece (as shown on this album) or a sweeping ballad with a huge choir, Bjork has done that and much more.
She is in fact the most inventive musician there ever has been and ever will be.She is that good and this album proves it.
The first track to start this album is "Overture", well named as it is the overture to the film. This song starts with a deep string section and works its way into a fully rounded orchestral masterpiece. Bjork is well known for her use of orchestras in her music and this fully orchestra track is well worth the listen, because I don't really like classical music I was really ominous about this track, this is actually my favourite classical music piece ever."Cvalda" is a really weird song, it starts off with about 1 minutes worth of machine and factory sounds the finally -Clatter,crash,clack,racket,bang,thump- the first lyrics are as suggestive as the rest of the song, which is all over the place and sonically loud. Catherine Denevue makes a worthy appearance on this song and adds to the excitement and energy. On the next track Bjork ropes in another musical genius, Thom Yorke of Radiohead to create quite simply the most moving track the album along with -New World-. Now this is the song that is credited with me first getting into Bjork.One morning I was watching a music video show and I saw the video for this song and I instantly went searching for it. This song is so amazingly beautiful. Thom and Bjork work so well on this duet. "Scatterheart" is quite lenghty but well worth the listen and it has the most wonderful electronic programming in it. It talks about hurricanes and how -you are going to have to find out for yourself- quite a lyrical muddle but it is very well written. "In The Musicals" is a very good song that starts off with a basketball like sound. The irony is that -Dancer In The Dark- is classed as a musical and this song is about just that. It's strangely empowering and encouraging. "107 Steps" is Siobhan Fallon counting her steps and Bjork cooing every random number that comes along. Then finally at 107 (Or is it 100)steps there is an orchestral explosion and everything goes fantastic. Again she ropes in another beautiful guest to accompany her. "New World" is the 7th and final song on the album, although this album is short it is well worth the listen. This track is AMAZING and I didn't realise it was this wonderful for a while, a great example of how songs can come to grow on you.
10/10. This album may be short but every track is fantastic.
I thoroughly recommend this to anyone, of any age.
Free Music Review: A Masterpiece To Any Bjork Fan
Hit: 5 Stars
I am a new fan of Bjork's music, after I saw the brilliant film "Dancer In The Dark". "Selmasongs" was the first album of hers I bought and I went on to buy the other three. The soundtrack is basically what the title states- it is music from "Dancer In The Dark" with the exceptions of The Next To Last Song and Bjork's short rendition of My Favorite Things which were reasonably cut from the soundtrack release as they don't fit in well with the album's structuring. The album is more likable after seeing the film (I rarely give albums 5 stars by the way) if I listened to this before I would probably give it 3 1/2 rating. The recording opens with the Overture, a track composed by Bjork which then goes into the cartoonish-styled "Cvalda" in which she enters a musical fantasy where she asks her friend to dance, which is something the friend does not like doing. Next is the brilliant, moving track "I've Seen It All" where Selma persuades someone that she is not going completely blind and she has seen all that she needs to, this was worthy of an Oscar despite losing the award. The music samples the rhythm of the noise a train makes as Bjork gives a beautiful vocal delivery with Thom Yorke of Radiohead (Peter Stormare in the film). Next is Scatterheart in which she thinks and ponders over a certain incident she just commited, then you go into In THe Musicals and 107 Steps the first one being about Selma wondering in song why she loves musicals and the latter is really indescribable and only understandable after seeing the film "Dancer In The Dark". Lastly, there is "New World" which I believe could've passed as the film's theme song as it plays during the end credits. This is the track in which my opinion, is the best composed as Bjork's voice beautifully swifts through soft music that increases loudly and eventually end with thumping, hard beats (basically, the Bjork formula for much of her hit singles). Basically, Selmasongs would not make a bad album for first-time Bjork listeners and everyone who saw the film "Dancer In The Dark" and enjoyed it will love this and to those who haven't seen the film and do not know much about Bjork, this might be worth a try but you should also give a try with "Post" which is more mainstream than "Selmasongs". Rating: 5 Stars
Free Music Review: i've heard it all now
Hit: 5 Stars
I remember hearing "I've seen it all" on Radio 1, Spring, 2 years ago. It was one of those jaw dropping moments when music puts me in a trance. That doesn't happen very often. I bought the CD when it came out. It sounds like what it is, a film soundtrack. However, the music stands up on its own. I didn't see "Dancer In The Dark" until a year later. The tracks are definately Bjork in sound and feel, yet the style is totaly "Musical", and with "Musical's" intense emotion and Bjork's songwriting ability, I found this album very powerful.I could waffle on for pages, so I'll keep it short.
"Overture" is a brass band piece. Does what it says on the tin.
"Cvalda" is a great exercise in writing a musical number.
"I've seen it all". Dueting with Thom Yorke was a very good idea.
This song has caught me off guard and brought me to tears more than once. And that's not counting the actual lyrics, just the sound. Definition of beauty.
"Scatterheart" is dark in tone and makes the least sense unless you see the film.
"In the musicals" is the most up tempo one. Makes hardly any sense, but the best musical numbers never do. Very cleverly written with soaring strings and a very inventive percussion section.
"107 steps" is my least favourite, but to prove Bjork's talent and love of music she can even make counting to 107 sound beautiful.
"New world" with graceful lyrics and the easiest sounding delivery, the orchestra slowly building to near breaking point,
ending with the theme from "Overture".
The songs have been changed here and there from the way they are in the film. "I've seen it all" works better with Thom Yorke, and "Scatterheart" doesn't work as well to me, but I'm trying to find flaws.
Over all, Bjork brings orchestral music together with dance music
ideas and makes them work on orchestral terms,(usually it's the other way round) with all the depth and emotion that entails. The fact that it's a musical soundtrack is almost coincidental. The idea of using everyday sounds to inspire music has never been done this well before.
There you go, that's enough. Buy it.
Free Music Review: SOARING MOMENTS IN A BRIEF CLASSIC
Hit: 5 Stars
Take heed from a guy who never owned a Bjork CD before buying this "soundtrack": this is great stuff.Someone had passed me a Bjork single of a Deodato mix of "Isobel" years back and I liked it and recognized her talent, but it took this film and the accompanying 'score' to wake me up and take notice (as I bark like Catherine Deneuve does in the opening scene of the film, a sly reference itself to 'The Sound of Music' - the last musical anyone in America allowed to be a musical without dismissing it).
Yes, I do wish Selmasongs was in the truest sense a 'soundtrack' of "Dancer in the Dark"... maybe that one is in the pipeline someday soon. Bjork has remixed and dubbed many of the songs to be different than heard in the film, itself an agonizing, witty, frustrating, iconoclastic, and at-times brilliant and self-reflexive meditation on the cultural murder of the musical by Industry and the 'chic cynicism' propogated by a media that would rather seduce people into buying SUVs, and look down on smaller cars, rather than have them feel deep and beautiful things. All that said, Bjork still provides 37 quality minutes of a modern musical.
It's subjective of course to choose a highlight here, but for my money it's "I've Seen It All", a lovely duet with Radiohead's Thom Yorke. I do regret the male chorus is missing from the film musical segment (possibly one of the most exquisite moments in cinema of the last ten years this side of Kieslowski). Siobahn Fallon's counting on "107 Steps" chills for anyone who has seen the film as Bjork marches bravely towards the Death of the Musical. The bulk of the material is orchestrated grandly by Vince Mendoza (the genius on Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now") and the underlying techno-beat emerges from Bjork's film role-plight as a lowly worker in a hellish sink factory.
"Selmasongs" moved me to research previous Bjork efforts, many of which I like and will purchase. As for its length and truncation, well, the lady is still a brilliant artist. It's quality, not quantity, or has that wisdom been trained out of us along with our spontaniety to suddenly get up, sing and dance?