Leziosa e allo stesso tempo struggente. Soltanto Björk, musa di registi psicotici e icona anti-pop per antonomasia, avrebbe potuto realizzare un disco così insopportabilmente snob nella sua disarmante essenzialità. Aveva ragione Picasso quando diceva che per imparare a dipingere con la semplicità di un bambino ci voleva un’intera vita. Björk sembra aver fatto (inconsciamente) tesoro di questa apparente provocazione.

"Medùlla" è la naturale prosecuzione di quella “disintossicazione elettronica” avviata col precedente "Vespertine". In questo disco i beats dei Matmos cedono il passo alle voci del coro islandese e ad una manciata di ospiti, tra i quali spicca l’ex Faith No More Mike Patton. Ma è la sua voce a regnare incontrastata sulle algide trame vocali che impregnano le quattordici canzoni di "Medùlla", alcune delle quali eseguite nella sua (a dir poco ostica) lingua madre.

Brandelli della Björk che fu emergono in brani come "Who Is It", e alle orecchie anche del più sprovveduto tra gli ascoltatori suonano come un flebile legame con un passato recente mai sembrato così lontano. La cantante non abiura, ma di certo non si volta indietro e, come un novello Paganini, non si ripete mai. Tutto questo per la gioia (?) dei suoi fedelissimi ascoltatori.

Elenco tracce testi samples e video

01   Pleasure Is All Mine (03:26)

02   Show Me Forgiveness (01:23)

Show me forgiveness
for having lost faith in myself
and let my own interior up
to inferior forces
the shame is endless
but if soon start forgiveness
the girl might live

03   Where Is the Line (04:41)

04   Vökuró (03:14)

Bærinn minn
bærinn minn og þinn
sefur sæll í kyrrð
fellur mjöll
hljótt í húmi á jörð
grasið mitt
grasið mitt og þitt
geymir mold til vors

Hjúfrar lind
leynt við brekkurót
vakir eins og við
lífi trútt
kyrrlátt kalda vermsl
augum djúps
útí himinfyrrð
starir stillt um nótt

Langt í burt
vakir veröld stór
grimmum töfrum tryllt
eirðarlaus
óttast nótt og dag
augu þín
óttalaus og hrein
brosa við mér björt

Vonin mín
blessað brosið þitt
vekur ljóð úr værð
hvílist jörð
hljóð í örmum snæs
liljuhvít
lokar augum blám
litla stúlkan mín

05   Öll birtan (01:52)

hal... hal... hal... hal... hal(tu, tu)
hal... hal(tu,tu) hal... hal(tu,tu)

euk birtan beleu stan moosep
benlae dan pine liddae tiddie flaybu in
euk grave euks stan

06   Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right) (03:57)

His embrace : a fortress
it fuels me and places
a skeleton of trust
right beneath us
bone by bone
stone by stone

If you ask yourself
patiently
and carefully:
who is it?
who is it?

Who is it - that never lets you down?
Who is it - that gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around
now they're handing it over
they're handing it over
handing it over

Who is it - that never lets you down?
Who is it - that gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around
now -- they're handing it over
handing it over

He demands a closeness
we all have earned a lightness
carry my joy on the left
carry my pain on the right

If you ask yourself
now patiently
and carefully:
who is it?

Who is it - that never lets you down?
Who is it - that gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around
and I'm handing it over
handing it over
handing

Who is it - that never lets you down?
Who is it - that gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around
now I'm handing it over
handing it over

07   Submarine (03:13)

When will it be time
to document
- do it now!
this submarine behaviour
- do it now!
when time?
to return
- do it now!
- do it now!
shake us out of the heavy deep sleep
- shake us now!
- do it now!
- do it now!
shake us out of the heavy deep sleep
- do it now!

08   Desired Constellation (04:55)

It's tricky when you feel someone has done something on your behalf
It's slippery when your sense of justice murmurs underneath and is asking you,

How am I going to make it right?
How am I going to make it right?

With a palm full of stars
I throw them like dice, repeatedly
On the table, repeatedly
I shake them like dice
And throw them on the table, repeatedly
Until the desired constellation appears.

How am I going to make it right?
How am I going to make it right?
How am I going to make it right?
And did you hear, how am I going to make it right?
How am I going to make it right?
How am I going to make it right?
How am I going to make it right?

A fit memory.

09   Oceania (03:24)

One breath away
from Mother Oceania
your nimble feet make prints
in my sand

You have done
good for yourselves
since you left my wet embrace
and crawled ashore

Every boy is a snake is a lily
Every pearl is a lynx is a girl

Sweet like harmony
made into flesh
you dance by my side
children sublime

You show me continents
I see the islands
You count the centuries
I blink my eyes

Hawks and sparrows
race in my waters
stingrays are floating
across the sky

Little ones
my sons and my daughters
your sweat is salty
I am why
I am why
I am why
your sweat is salty
I am why
I am why
I am why

10   Sonnets/Unrealities XI (01:59)

11   Ancestors (04:08)

I'll pick you
I'll take you
I admit
he said
I did it
I'll play the fool
Underneath
Me
I
You
But, I told
And undo
And say, undo
Live
I say
And will
And we all

12   Mouth's Cradle (03:59)

13   Miðvikudags (01:24)

Performed by Björk
Programming: Björk, Jake Davies

"I just nicknamed it "Miðvikudags", which means wednesday...s, it was basically because I did it on a wednesday -- sometimes you don't know what to call them, you know. This is similar to me with "Öll Birtan" -- that it's like a little interlude and maybe shows where this whole tree came from, that it's from me being 18, or even younger - being like 10, and having two rubbish tape recorders and recording my voice into one, and then recording on the other one, the tape recorder and me, adding a voice on top, and then back, playing with a teaspoon on an ashtray or something. Kind of just back to that, and there's no words in this one either, it's just gibberish." (Björk, XFM 25aug04)

14   Triumph of a Heart (04:10)

The nerves are sending
shimmering signals
all through my fingers
the veins support
blood that gushes
pulsively towards

The triumph of a heart - that gives all : that gives all
The triumph of a heart - that gives all : that gives all

The stubborn trunks
of these legs of mine
serve as pathways
for my favourite fuel
heading upwards towards
my kidneys

The triumph of a heart - that gives all : that gives all
The triumph of a heart - that gives all : that gives all

Smooth
soft, red
velvety lungs
are pushing a network
of oxygen joyfully
through a nose
through a mouth
but all enjoys
all enjoys

The triumph of a heart - that gives all : that gives all
The triumph of a heart - that gives all : that gives all
The triumph of a heart - that gives all : that gives all
The triumph of a heart - that gives all : that gives all

15   Komið (02:00)

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Altre recensioni

Di  janis

 Si ha la sensazione di camminare sulla punta dei piedi pur essendo posseduti da vampate di vertigini.

 È una soddisfazione non indifferente abbandonare lo stato di rassegnazione per far spazio ad un genuino compiacimento.


Di  Milk

 “Come il sangue, ma ancora più profondo ed oscuro.”

 “Bjork è riuscita a comunicare all’animo umano sensazioni altrimenti inspiegabili, troppo vicine al nucleo che le ha generate.”


Di  Me Myself & I

 La musica, o meglio non-musica di Medulla mi ha affascinato.

 Medulla è un capolavoro della musica Moderna, un’opera d’avanguardia.


Di  The_dull_flame

 Medùlla non è un puro esperimento, è poesia.

 Medùlla è un album da ascoltare, da amare, composto di canzoni semplicemente uniche e incredibili.