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SelmaSongs: Music from the Motion Picture Dancer in the Dark
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 10 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Elektra/Asylum
Release Date: 19 September 2000
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Soundtrack, Rock, Alternative
Summary
The soundtrack to Lars Von Trier's "Dancer In The Dark" consists of seven tracks from Bjork, who also starred in the film. Includes "I've Seen It All," a duet with Radiohead's Thom Yorke.
Also By This Artist: Drawing Restraint 9 OST Medulla Vespertine Volta Voltaic [Live]
Also On The Web: Metacritic Video: Dancer In The Dark
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Alternative Press
The music on Selmasongs brings Bjork's penchant for haunting melodies, cinematic imagery and ambient percussion fully to bear.... Though composed for a film, the music is 100-percent Bjork and may well be her best work yet. [12/2000, p.91]
The Wire
For Bjork, this release marks a development in her craft.... SelmaSongs is a little big brave collection of songs that makes me feel better whenever I listen to it. [#201, p.58]
MTV.com
Björk's airy and exalted vocals are wonderfully familiar. She may be singing as Selma, but Björk herself isn't too far beneath the surface.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
An appropriate marriage of industrial clanging and symphonic melodrama... this album, although short, represents a particularly accessible career highlight for Bjork.
Read Full Review >Sonicnet
One of the most exciting pop-music experiments to along in a long while.... Selmasongs works as an album, not just as a souvenir of a daring cinematic and musical venture.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
She may not have written the words, but Björk's emotional investment in songs like 'I've Seen It All' (really sad) and 'Scatterheart' (really really sad) is undeniable; making this album - 'in character' as poor, doomed Selma - totally seductive as A Björk Record.
Read Full Review >Spin
Selmasongs becomes a deeper listen after you've seen Dancer In The Dark.... But even without its proper context, the album is evidence of Bjork's unstoppable growth. [Nov. 2000, p.197]
Billboard
In signature Björk fashion, the songs are emotionally intense, beautifully orchestrated, sensually sweet, and wickedly exotic.
Read Full Review >Select
It's the violently romantic finale 'New World,' though, that should see doubts finally stifled. Rivalling Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' in its breathtaking loveliness, it's among the best things she's done. (Oct. 2000, p.102)
All Music Guide
Bjork has crafted an album that is both intimate and theatrical, innovative, but tied to tradition. Though Selmasongs paints a portrait of a woman losing her sight, it maintains Bjork's unique vision perfectly.
Read Full Review >Wall of Sound
Without the context of the film, the songs don't stand particularly well on their own for the purposes of casual listening.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Selmasongs breaks no new ground whatsoever for the Icelandic composer, instead dwelling in more comfortable regions already mapped by Homogenic.... the record definitely has its great moments. The problem is, there are only two of them.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
The most notable feature of Selmasongs is how much it sounds like her most recent musical adventures, regardless of the album's intended cinematiccontext.
Read Full Review >Launch.com
Bjork-obsessed fans hungry for more of the songwriter's customary eccentricities might be disappointed with the brief and thematic focus of the album.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
There's still enough synapse-jangling vocal invention and moments of great beauty to make it a worthy addition ot Bjork's singular ouevre. [Nov. 2000, p.99]
New York Magazine
The album has its charms -- Björk's voice soars on "Scatter Heart," and her duet with Radiohead's Thom Yorke has a mambo-style sexiness -- but its overdone orchestrations and outsize emotions lack the resonance of Carousel and its metaphysical overtones or even the easygoing peacetime fizz of On the Town. [Sep 25, 2000]
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Too much dark and not enough dancer--textured passages that might sound great with luscious visuals, but are mere din from a cheap CD boom box.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Something here brings out the most precious and irritating aspects of Björk's elfin voice.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
A refreshingly old-fashioned orchestral score intercut with rather less appealing jaunts through an atonal avant-garde.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Julia A gave it a7:
The soundtrack that can stand on its own without being too attached to the movie. who would ever thought the sound of train on railways (I've Seen It All), a broken-alike musicbox scape (Scatterheart), even just shouting numbers of footsteps(107 Steps) would sound so amazing? the reason I don't give this album 9 or 10 would be the amount of songs (the song at the scene where Selma got hanged and few more songs would be nice).
jyotirmaya d gave it a7:
if you want some cool background music to read the paper to or for napping mood ~ good ... doesn't stand well as an album that would satisfy your need to hear some thing more entertaining except for the song about walls with thom yorke of radiohead fame.
Andrew F gave it a10:
This is by far my favourite Bjork album, and one of my fave albums of all time. It works much better once you've seen the film, and you associate the heart-wrenching tale with the lovely music. Some of the most depressing music ever made to go with a nihilistic film, but it's a bold and daring artistic statement.
Kristian gave it a 9:
I've seen the movie and you've seen nothing yet until you've listened to the album, especially the wonderful I've Seen It All, Scatterheart and A New Day
Juan M. gave it a 10:
This is the greatest album from Björk, all the tracks are very good
