Bjork's new album Medulla

Picking up on that last post about Bjork, I thought I'd mention that Bjork.net just launched a lyric section containing not only all of Bjork's English albums, but both Icelandic releases, Bjork and Gling-glo, complete with English translations. Just in case you were always wondering what she was on about.

In the spirit of that announcement and a recent article on Stylus magazine about lines from sad songs, I thought I'd share my favorite sad Bjork lyric, from Homogenic's "Bachlorette":

"Leave me now - return tonight

tide will show you the way

if you forget my name

you will go astray

like a killer whale trapped in a bay"

Bjork's new album Medulla is due out on August 31. At first, I had heard that it would be an all-vocal affair - no instruments on the record at all. Which had me skeptical. I give Bjork every benefit of the doubt - she pulled off fireworks during her Keyspan Park show last year without seeming cheesy, so I put nothing past her. But an all-vocal album - with an eclectic cast including Rahzel and Mike Patton, no less - would be her most impressive feat yet.

Pitchfork has more details on the album today, though, and it seems Matmos and a few others have done some programming for Medulla as well - so there are electronics to go with the vocals. (And with the brilliantly creative Matmos involved, I'm sure there's a beat made from ice cubes or something else wild on there too.) Still no live instruments though, and the vocals are the emphasis. Very curious to hear this one.