Björk: "Náttúra"

Björk has become so capital-S substantial that she’s damned to weigh down even her one-offs. The short form: this song solicits money for and (one supposes) raises awareness of Icelandic ecology and, because no celebrity’s dip into political action would be complete without equal parts romanticism, celebrates nature. Whatever the hell that means.

I sound picky, sure, except that “Náttúra” is the perfect example of rampant scope robbing a song of impact. And no, I don’t feel uncomfortable discussing a money-raising political song in project management terms. There’s anger here, and plenty of political impetus for it (even if in interviews Björk illustrates that she, like most of us, can get in a bit over her head when trying to reconcile environmentalism with a global economic meltdown). Its status as a capital-generating thermometer, with no clear goals other than funding the Björk co-founded Náttúra Campaign “environmental movement” and an invisible Thom Yorke on backup vocals (can you find him?), makes the whole thing a confusion of memes and messages. Local politics is spread so thinly over her international musician status that it can’t help but expose the thin spots in what, really, is a one-off. And a pretty good one at that.

It’s too bad Volta (2007) didn’t have something both this intensely rhythmic and naturally melodic, courtesy of Lightening Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale’s syncopation, which tumbles like a bag of doorknobs down a flight of stairs. Björk’s virtuoso yelps are now characteristic and so it suffices to say that she sounds exactly like Björk, and Yorke, as mentioned, is non-existent; he’s nowhere near as present as he was on the neo-traditional (and still beautiful) “I’ve Seen It All” from Selmasongs (2000). It’s reinvigorated stuff, and perhaps evidence that were Björk to separate herself from the mission statement of period pieces and thesis statements, her naturally experimental side would continue to fringe pop’s edges.

:: nattura.info