Vespertine

1997's Homogenic, also a mixture of heavy beats and strings, was not as varied or complete as this album, and while Selmasongs, last year's soundtrack to "Dancer in the Dark" (in which Björk starred), was lovely in its own sweeping, cinematic way, Björk has surpassed herself with this new work.

Björk continues to mine the fine line of minimalist lushness that her last album gave birth to; with tiny, crackling, skittery beats weaving open-toned ambient beds in which her breathy, pushed-forward vocals lithely lay, the closeness and drama of her every syllable commanding attention.

The best solo record of her career... Vespertine is the closest any pop-vocal album has come to the luxuriant Zen of the new minimalist techno, even beating Radiohead's nervy Kid A. Where Kid A sounded like a record of risk, the work of a band on unfamiliar ground, Bjork sings here as if she owns and knows every inch of space and shadow in these songs.

Vespertine isn't immediately accessible, but after repeat listens, a smoldering heart of emotion and a true pop sensibility reveal themselves. [Oct 2001, p.77]

Vespertine isn’t so much a departure from her previous work as a culmination of the musical distance she’s traveled...

In the end, Vespertine commits its magic by daring to go places more obvious and more human than one would have ever expected. [#210, p.52]

A beautiful, magical, mystical soundtrack; similar to Homogenic, but in a sense, more light-hearted and full of love.

It's unlikely you'll hear anything as near to perfect, magical and downright lovely all year.

The most introspective and slow-tempo collection in Björk's catalog, "Vespertine" proves to be a rousing showcase of her captivating vocal talent.

When it all comes together, as on ''Hidden Place'' or ''It's Not Up to You,'' Björk and her electronica collaborators create moving interplanetary chorals. ''Vespertine'' is also her most erotic work....

Vespertine is an album for small curtained establishments, for taking your "little ghetto blaster" onto back streets, for intimate and precious occasions.

She uses her voice as well as she ever has, giving the moods light and shade. [Sep 2001, p.104]

While Homogenic, Post, and Debut were emotionally frenetic and often musically confrontational, Vespertine is rich in its tranquillity and spiritual divinity, full of astute observation and patient acceptance.

Vespertine quietly proves that cutting-edge production and human contact aren't mutually exclusive. [Sep 2001, p.109]

Her best album to date.... Vespertine is an album of small gestures, one almost challenging in its stillness.... The cumulative effect is an album both timeless and of the moment, an avant-garde electronic-pop exploration of classic themes.

A gorgeous reverie. [Sep 2001, p.99]

This is breathtaking, life-affirming music with the power to heal and restore. It's that beautiful.

Her new album, Vespertine, is the singer's most complete and compelling expression of that wondrous worldview yet.

If there's one question to be raised with the album, it's that it's all simply so lush and nice that on some levels it fails to excite.

As difficult as it is gorgeous, Vespertine ranks among Bjork’s finest albums.

This is a Warp-inspired wonderland of intricate glitches, murmuring glacial low-end smoothness, and subtle, filmic orchestration.

Björk's latest is as delightfully eccentric as her choice in outfits, blending scratchy electronic programming with tinkling music boxes and squeezing her formidable voice into ancient-sounding harmonies or futuristic whispers.

While undeniably beautiful, Vespertine fails to give electronic music the forward push it received on Björk's preceding albums. Rather than designing sounds never before imagined, the album merely sounds current, relying on the technology of standard studio software and the explorations of the Powerbook elite.... Still, Vespertine makes for an intriguing listen, and manages to hold its own after hours on repeat.

The entire LP takes on a sort of plodding sameness even as the overall sonics soar.

This intimate, often breathtakingly beautiful collection (primarily produced by the artist herself) finds solace in the calm after the storm.

Vespertine is her most intensely private and intimate-sounding work, a journey through an interior world that is quietly ecstatic, erotic and playful.