Having come to international attention as lead vocalist of The Sugarcubes, and gone on to start a successful solo career, pint-sized Icelandic diva Björk Guðmundsdóttir (for some bizarre reason she dropped the surname professionally) kissed the pop mainstream goodbye and embarked on a more artistically experimental path – encompassing film acting, soundtrack composition and the use of new multimedia technologies.
Last year’s scientifically-themed Biophilia – her seventh solo studio album – was musically cold and unemotional, but notable for the fact that each track was also released as an app. Mastered by Grammy-nominee Mandy Parnell, Bastards is the reworked offspring of Biophilia, featuring remixes by the likes of Omar Souleyman, Matthew Herbert, Hudson Mohawke, These New Puritans, and Death Grips.
This is Björk’s third such remix album and it’s easily the most successful. Although there were numerous Biophilia remixes released online, the singer apparently “felt it important to gather together the essence of the remixes.” Thus she has “picked a quarter of them for one CD for people who are perhaps not too sassy downloaders or don’t have the time or energy to partake in the hunter-gathering rituals of the internet.”
She picked pretty well. Syrian artist Souleyman’s tracks are reminiscent of bustling Arab markets. Matthew Herbert’s three remixes are amongst the strongest – most especially his ‘Tectonic Plates’ version of ‘Mutual Core’. The same track is more subtly tackled by These New Puritans, who’ve added a Solomon Island choir to great effect. A lot grittier, the two Death Grips mixes – ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘Thunderbolt’ – also offer some interesting sonic juxtapositions.
Remixers often tend to over-treat the vocals until they’re virtually unrecognisable, but Björk’s high-pitched voice is so strong and distinctive it would be near impossible to drown in sound. Although the rhythms, beats and pulses vary throughout these 13 tracks, an emphasis was placed on making this album a cohesive whole. It’s worked so well that Bastards is still very much a Björk album – and often a lot more welcoming than the original source material.
Key Track: ‘Thunderbolt’ (Omar Souleyman Remix)