Medúlla is the fifth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 30 August 2004 in the United Kingdom by One Little Independent Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. After the release of her electronic-influenced previous album Vespertine (2001), Björk intended to make an album almost entirely constructed with human vocals, in contrast to the previous album's intense process of composition and multiple layers of instrumentation. The album's title derives from the Latin word for "marrow".
Medúlla received critical acclaim from music critics, with many calling it "unique", although others deemed it "confusing". Although album was not as commercially successful as her previous albums, it did reach number one in the charts of France, Iceland and Wallonia, whilst also peaking within the top ten in the United Kingdom. Medúlla is estimated to have sold more than a million copies worldwide, and received two nominations at the 47th Grammy Awards.
Two singles were released from Medúlla: "Who Is It" and "Triumph of a Heart", with both charting inside the top 40 in the United Kingdom and the top 10 in Spain. Björk further promoted the album by performing the song "Oceania" at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and other television and radio shows. Other than these few performances, no concerts or tours were arranged to promote Medúlla, as Björk thought it would be too difficult to play the songs live.
Background and production Björk began working on her fifth studio album in 2002, being known as The Lake Album at the time. In an interview with The New Yorker, she explained that she wanted to avoid instruments and electronics present on her previous album, Vespertine (2001), and said that the project was "very introverted" and "was avoiding eye contact". Whilst she was finishing Vespertine, Björk wanted to make an album composed of vocals, and wanted to since her teenage years. According to her, majority of the album is related to the time when she was 17 to 18 years old, focusing on life, love, family, and friends. She commented that she used to live "carefree" as a teenager, and how others affected the way she thought, saying that it is shown in Medúlla. Björk began working on the album while eight months pregnant by adding her own live drumming to the arrangements of previously recorded demos. She then started muting the instruments, and liked the result of it. She was inspired by paganism, and the idea of returning to a universe that is entirely human, without tools or religion or nationalities. "I wanted the record to be like muscle, blood, flesh. We could be in a cave somewhere and one person would start singing, and another person would sing a beat and then the next person sing a melody, and you could just kind of be really happy in your cave. It's quite rootsy", she added.
Tanya Tagaq, an Inuk throat singer who worked with Björk on her 2001 Vespertine world tour, was also featured. Björk was so impressed with her voice's ability that she invited Tagaq to work with her on the album. She asked British singer Robert Wyatt to be a featured vocalist on the album, as she was looking for something more "passionate" and "human". Additionally, the musician "wanted a bit of rock" on Medúlla, so she invited singer Mike Patton of rock band Faith No More. Björk also invited the London and Icelandic choirs, in order to have a classical feel on the album. However, the "musical fascist" in her decided using any MCs or vocal percussionists would be too "cheesy"; she later changed her mind when she saw beatboxer Rahzel from The Roots freestyle a whole Kraftwerk track without pausing for breath. Björk found his voice "above and beyond any cliché" and thought he was perfect for the album's beat-based songs. Another beatboxer, Dokaka, was invited after Björk got a link to his webpage and liked his covers so much that she decided to work with him; he appears on a few songs.
American singer Beyoncé was planned to be featured on the album as well, but she did not appear due to scheduling issues. When asked what she liked about Beyoncé, Björk stated that "[Medúlla] is an album about voices, and she's got the most amazing voice."
Artwork and title
The album cover for Medúlla was photographed by duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in London, on 28 June 2004, and designed by M/M Paris. It features Björk wearing a mask made of hair, which was made specifically for the shoot, a black dress and a necklace that is made of black "bones" that says "Medúlla". The hair mask was created by Icelandic artist Shoplifter. The artist stated that in 2004, she had a show at ATM Gallery, where she displayed a wall mural made of brown braids. Björk appreciated it, and then invited her to work on creating a hair sculpture for the Medúllas character. She also explained that the singer wanted it to have a darkness about it, and then she sent Björk several references of extreme hairstyles, and because the album was made with voices, Björk wanted something that was part of the human body.
Van Lamsweerde said that they "were all inspired by women's handicrafts and this idea of being in your own cocoon in your home, with your family, and this reclusive character that hand-makes the whole world around her". The hairpiece was part of her 2015 MoMA retrospective. In an interview with Style magazine, Shoplifter talked about her part at the exhibition, explaining that it dedicated a room to each album of Björk's career, with the Medúlla section having a mannequin wearing the hair mask and the dress designed by Alexander McQueen which she wore in the music video for "Who Is It".
The title was announced in June 2004 through Björk's official website. She had struggled to choose a suitable title while preparing the album. She said that something in her "wanted to leave out civilisation, to rewind to before it all happened and work out, 'Where is the human soul? What if we do without civilisation and religion and patriotism, without the stuff that has gone wrong?'" She provisionally called it Ink, a title that suggested to her the idea of "that black, 5,000-year-old blood that's inside us all; an ancient spirit that's passionate and dark and survives." Her friend Gabriela then suggested "medulla", a medical term for "marrow" in Latin. She noted that the word refers not only to bone marrow, but also to various other anatomical structures, including parts of the kidney and of hair; in this sense, she said the word represented "getting to the essence of something". The accent on the letter "ú" was intended to make the word cuter with a pun on the Icelandic word "dúlla": "We thought it was funny," she said, "then it became mysterious."
Composition Style and influences
At the time of its construction, Björk considered Medúlla to be her most political album, saying that it countered outbreaks of racism and patriotism that followed the 11 September attacks. "On 9/11, in the space of a half an hour, this became the most patriotic place on earth", she recalled. "I remember describing to my friends on my phone that [if] I turned 180 degrees anywhere I was in New York. I would count at least 37 American flags. So it was kind of scary for a foreigner to be here". Regarding the album's composition, Björk also mentioned that she tried to find the common soul in everything, outside nationality and religion, whilst elaborating that she felt that "in that sense, it's a greatest hits of human spiritualism [laughs]. I think it's the first time I have done an album while I am reading the news. These are crazy times. It just seems that patriotism is a bad idea. I don't know how directly the album reflects that, but it is sort of anti-patriotic. Anti-Iceland as much as anti-anything".
Medúlla is almost entirely a cappella, also demonstrating avant-garde and experimental music. musicOMH's review stated that, "Despite its voice-only premise, Medúlla shows off a mile-wide scope of influences", noting elements of folk and medieval music, despite Björk previously stating that Medúlla was "folk music, but without any folk attached" to the album. She also considered the styles encompassing the album as "primitive and silly". Wondering Sound wrote that despite "its comparative starkness, [Medúlla is] every bit as sensual as [Vespertine]". The publication also added: "The electronic treatments range from industrial distortion to percussive glitches and dreamy layering, rarely descending into novelty". The album combines beatboxing, classical choirs that suggest composers like Penderecki or Arvo Pärt, and "mews, moans, counterpoint and guttural grunts" provided by herself and guests like Mike Patton, Robert Wyatt and Tanya Tagaq. Medúlla includes "vocal fantasias" that lean toward chamber music, alongside tracks that "are obviously but distantly connected to hip-hop." Glimpses of Bulgarian women's choirs, the polyphony of central African pygmies, and the "primal vocalisms" of Meredith Monk were also noted.
Songs The album opens with "Pleasure Is All Mine", which begins with a vocal harmony layered on top of a woman's panting for a short while prior to when Björk starts singing her verses. The verses additionally have the background filled by a harmonic and cathedral-mimicking choir. Björk sings "When in doubt: give" repeatedly, yielding contrast to an "alarming" groove. "Show Me Forgiveness", an a cappella "short confessional anthem" follows, having no other effect than a subtle echo exerted onto her voice. She sings: "Show me forgiveness / For having lost faith in myself / And let my own interior up / To inferior forces / The shame is endless". During the third song "Where Is the Line", she lyrically attacks a younger relative for being greedy and unreliable, displaying vexation: "I'm elastic for you, but enough is enough". "Demonic vocals" are delivered by singer Mike Patton, and "angelically dissonant swaths of lush singing" from the Icelandic Choir; as Rahzel beatboxes, the choir emotes some "ahhhs". The song grows darker as it builds up as the male members of the choir deliver heavier sounds. The "somber" song called "Vökuró", originally by Jórunn Viðar, is the fourth track on Medúlla. The song is in Icelandic; Björk rolls her tongue around certain words, accompanied by a choir.
During the fifth track "Öll Birtan", Björk's voice is layered over several times, with a voice resembling a drone in the left channel, whilst "doot-doos" echo into the right side of the audio. The following song and lead single "Who Is It" features collaborations by Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq and Rahzel. Some lyrics of the song—"Who is it that never lets you down?"—may be understood to reflect a "mother's unconditional love" in a dialogue between mother and child. The echo effects in "Who Is It" may additionally reflect the scattered sense of self the mother may experience as she carries the burden of constant care for her child. "Submarine", the seventh track on the album, was influenced by Björk's pregnancy with her daughter Ísadóra and how she felt somewhat lazy during that time. It has a "hint of political consciousness", and features the "reedy" voice of singer Robert Wyatt multiplied into a chorus to share lines like "Shake us out of the heavy deep sleep, do it now". The next track "Desired Constellation" was created from a sample of Björk singing the phrase "I'm not sure what to do with it" from "Hidden Place" on her previous album, Vespertine. She imagines herself "With a palm full of stars/ I throw them like dice on the table/ Until the desired constellation appears".