This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Girlish or gargantuan, hushed or haunting, breathy or bellowing — no matter how she wields it, Björk’s voice is nothing short of a force of nature.
So the mostly a cappella Medúlla should be her most, well, natural work to date, right? Wrong. Even for this fiercely experimental Icelander, this sixth major-label studio set is pretty out there — but in a most compelling and rewarding way.
Aside from a few synths and the occasional bit of programming, these 14 cuts are stylish sonic collages assembled from a catalogue of human voices — the rhythms of human beatbox Rahzel, the lush backdrops of The Icelandic Choir, the dark tones of former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, the atmospheric melancholia of Soft Machine’s Robert Wyatt and others.
Of course, Ms. Gudmundsdóttir does most of the heavy lifting here, layering and mixing and cutting and pasting her offbeat vocals into a series of mesmerizing, elegant and undeniably artful creations. “Follow my voice,” she requests on Mouth’s Cradle. Like we could tear ourselves away.
