Björk – Debut (1993)

Björk's music has played a big part in my life's soundtrack. I think her music first became familiar to me when my big sister started listening to her music. She was a big fan of Björk and had all of her 90's albums, which meant that I heard her music quite a lot at home. Around that time I didn't really understand the music myself. I was too involved with heavy metal and hard rock scene to enjoy anything with this many electronic elements. The next big Björk moment came to me in high school when I borrowed her compilation box from a local library and this time I really enjoyed it. Fairly soon afterwards, I was working in a café in central Helsinki, where we would play CDs, one of which was a Björk compilation. It became the soundtrack to many of my mornings that year. This CD I only bought a few years later when I didn't hear it on almost a daily basis elsewhere.



Debut is Björk's first solo album since her career in Sugarcubes. She had released another solo album already in the 70's, but this album can be seen as the debut album for the Björk we know now. The album is a mix of different styles and I'd even say this is the most varied of all the Björk albums, since the others seem to have quite a unified sound and style. Despite being a bit all over the place in terms of style, this is one of Björk's best albums. It has some amazing individual songs that are among her most memorable hits. Most of the album fits the description of trip hop, but there are some jazz, techno and dance elements on the album as well.

The album starts with a massive hit Human Behaviour. This is one of the most well-remembered Björk songs. The dark and interesting melodies along with pounding drums, electronic samples and rock synths make it sound really original and ominous. Crying has a dance beat and funky piano line that sounds a bit like bass. Despite the perky rhythms, the mood of the song is quite dark and anguished. Another massive hit, Venus As a Boy is one of my all time favourite Björk songs. The melodies are amazingly beautiful and the string instruments and chiming synths that zoom in and out give it a nice mystique. The next song, There's More To Life Than This, has interestingly been recorded live at the Milk Bar toilets. This song has pounding electronic beats and all in all it sounds a lot like a club hit apart from Björk's trademark vocals. Like Someone In Love shows the more artsy side of Björk that became so familiar in the later years. It starts quietly with a harp and includes some random noises. Eventually there are also some string arrangements that make it sound like a distorted version of a Disney song. Big Time Sensuality was also quite a big hit back in the day. This is one of the more danceable songs with a clear dance beat. The chorus is even quite catchy. One Day is a dark and ominous trip hop song with some space synth sounds. This song makes it really clear that Björk has so much in common with Bristol's 90's trip hop bands. Aeroplane is one of the most experimental songs on the album. It includes birds singing, strange bass lines and sounds of the jungle and on top of it all is Björk's amazing vocals accompanied by interesting jazz intermissions and musical-style backing vocals. Come to Me is another prime example of the trip hop style of this album. The drums and organs sound a lot like Massive Attack. Violently Happy has looping electronic beats that resemble house music that was popular at the time of this album's release. But instead of just showing off the beats, there's also Björk's artsy vocals above it all. The album ends with The Anchor Song, which has some strange horn sections and a cappella singing.

Björk has always been a fairly visual performer, meaning that in addition to sound, she has always paid lots of attention to the appearance of her live performances, album covers and music videos. The music video for Human Behaviour is quite an excellent one. It's directed by the always amazing Michel Gondry. It features young and incredibly charming Björk who's wandering round forests and fields with animals of the forest running away from a hunter. It's amazing to watch Björk sing the raspy yells in this song with all that intensity.

I had attempted to see Björk live before, but she always had to cancel her shows in Finland for a reason or another. I finally got to see her live this spring at a festival gig here in London. The visuals of that gig were amazing, but I was quite disappointed that I couldn't get anywhere close to the stage and it was difficult to see properly. Also, some young festival-goers were speaking loudly over the music that was so delicately quiet that it would've required absolute silence. So, even though the performance was great, it was difficult to enjoy it to the full because of the audience's bad behaviour. One interesting thing, though, was that there was a lightning storm in the distance visible while she was playing, which made the situation seem quite magical.

Debut is a mixed bag of music. It includes some absolutely amazing songs, but also some that I'm not too fond of. But I guess this album is almost like Björk's career in mini-version. It features many of the styles that she's explored on individual albums later on.

Listen to the album on Spotify.