| Music Review | Josh Hinkle |
Bjork "Drawing Restraint 9"
This one flew under most people's radar, but I have the benefit of working at a store that actually ordered it (at my insistence) and so I was one of the first of Bjork's fans in the area to get my hands on it. And I’m still adjusting to it. I'd listen to a CD of her breathing, so while this is a step up from that it's still about as odd. It's centered around traditional Japanese Noh Theater and the efforts to get the US Military to reinstate the Japanese whaling industry. I'm not well versed in that area and I’ve not been able to find much information so I can research it further, but evidently Gen. Douglas MacArthur lifted the ban. The first track here is a letter from a Japanese citizen thanking him for doing that. A letter sung by Will Oldham. And there is a 10-minute track featuring a Noh theater chant. Most of the tracks here feature electronically arranged music, which would be an odd choice for most, but here it works. The album is about the relationship between tradition and innovation- a theme well explored by nothing more than the instruments used to produce the album. Be warned, though, even Bjork's name is on the album cover, and it's very much a Bjork record, she only appears vocally on two tracks. She did arrange and write all of the music here, so it's not like you're buying it for only two of her original tracks, and I think a true fan would enjoy this as a little known stepping stone on her way to greater innovations. It's just another round of her ever-spiraling musical oddity and I wouldn't trade it for a Post redux if I could.
Standout tracks: Bath, Hunter Vessel, Storm, Holographic Entrypoint