#376 - Björk - 'Post' (1995)

MUSIC HISTORY WRITTEN BY HEAD WRITER DJ MORTY COYLE:

Released on June 13th of 1995 on One Little Indian and Elektra Records and produced by Björk, Nellee Hooper, Graham Massey, Tricky, and Howie B this is the second album by the Icelandic, Alternative, Electronica, Trip Hop, Art Pop, artist.

Born in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1965 Björk (Beyerk) Guðmundsdóttir was already studying classical piano and flute by age 6. A few years later her teacher recorded her singing at a recital and sent it to Iceland’s only radio station and after they played it on air she was offered a record deal.

Her debut album of Icelandic children’s songs titled “Björk” was released locally in 1977 but recorded when she was only 11.

By her teens she had formed, played, and collaborated with several different bands including an all-female Punk Rock group and a Jazz Fusion group.

After finishing music school she and a bass player started her first professional band and put out an EP calling themselves Tappi Tíkarrass (which roughly translates to “Cork the Bitch's Ass”).

Then she started another collaboration with a guitarist named Þór (Thor) Eldon whose surrealist band Medusa included a poet named Sjón (Syohn) who I’ll get to later.

A chance radio performance with several other members of local bands saw her begin a new Gothic Punk Rock group in which she really started honing her unique vocal style. A single, album, and poetry book soon followed.

After a second album that group splintered into a duo and she found out she was pregnant with Þór (Thor) Eldon’s kid.

They got married, had their son Sindri, she added acting to her resume, and then they started another collective band but this time specifically to make money.

She was only 20.

That group became known as Sykurmolarnir (See-koor-mole-arneer) and put out some well received Icelandic language singles. After signing with the English independent record label One Little Indian they released an English-translation version of their single “Birthday” under their translated band name, The Sugarcubes.

Right after The Sugarcubes put out their first album, Björk and Þór (Thor) got divorced.
However the band stayed together and had a pretty popular career for a few years until Björk started collaborating with other people, decided to go solo, and moved to London.

Her technically second debut solo album, the imaginatively-titled “Debut” was produced by Nellee Hooper who worked with Massive Attack. It was a critical and commercial success internationally.

She, the album, and the singles won all kinds of awards.

Her formula of working with a popular and innovative producer from the electronic dance music world paid off so she built on that by including several more collaborators for this follow up.

The title was a combination of representing the excitement and fascination with her life post-moving to London.

And as the songs were like personal correspondences to those she loves and loved the title was a pun on mail.

The lyrics were intimate and complex, the music was challenging and ambitious, and the videos were intriguing and engaging.

Although more popular in Europe than America she did get to number 32 on the Billboard album chart which was significantly higher than her debut.
The album was universally acclaimed by critics, was featured on almost every best of list for the year and then the decade, and she won awards all over the world.

You can still hear and see her influence on artists of today like Sia, Thom Yorke, M.I.A., Florence + the Machine, Missy Elliot, and Evanescence.

She released seven more studio albums and plenty of other product since then.

She’s had thirty singles in the Top 40 charts, along with twenty-two Top 40s in the U.K. and has sold somewhere between 20 to 40 million records worldwide.