Selmasongs

SelmaSongs, is an album released in September 2000 by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk. This album corresponds to the soundtrack of the film Dancing in the dark which was directed by the Danish Lars von Trier and also starred Björk.

In general, the reviews of the album are positive, although a good number of them point out the poor quality compared to other works by Björk, especially with Homogenic, a much darker and more innovative work according to critics. musical. They especially point out her collaboration with Catherine Deneuve and Thom Yorke, although there are also others that point to the production of the album.

Reception

In general, the reviews of the album are positive, although a good number of them point out the poor quality compared to other works by BJörk, especially with Homogenic, a much darker and more innovative work according to critics musical. They point out in particular the collaboration with Catherine Deneuve and Thom Yorke, although there are also others that point to the production of the album. The highest score is given by Alternative press with a 5/5 while the lowest score is given by Rolling stone magazine with a 3/5, even so all the criticisms exceed the approval. Regarding the score of the users of web pages, the score of the album exceeds the approved one, reaching a remarkable 7/10.

Specialized criticism

Criticism
Publication	Rating
Allmusic
Slant magazine
Entertainment weekly	C- (5.5/10)
American hit network	A- (8.5/10
Pitchfork media
Alternative Press
NME
Rolling Stone
Spin
User rating
Metacritic
Epinions
Amazon.com

In Allmusic critic Heather Phares gives it 3.5 out of five stars saying that it is and not a Björk album. It is because it is "full of [...] creativity" Björk's emotions, vocals and arrangements, but it is not because it is not like the other albums, not even the "dark Homogenic." About the songs, he says that the best ones are an expression of Björk's inventiveness and talent, "Cvalda" is like from a cartoon while "Scatterheart" is sad, "In the musicals" "shows how easy it is for Selma to introduce herself". in her reveries and is accompanied by strings, harp and xylophone. As for "New world", he says that it takes the melody from "Overture" but that he accompanies it with lyrics and factory sounds and from "I've seen it all", a duet with Thom Yorke, the critics say that it captures the romance with his co-worker on the film, eventually "107 steps" "takes the listener to the final day". but maintains the unique vision of Björk", concludes Phares. Sal Cinquemani of Slant magazine gives it 4.5 out of five stars, speaking of the album positively saying of the songs that "Cvalda" is "brilliantly based on real factory sounds", similar to "I&# 39;ve seen it all", accompanied by sounds of train tracks and highlighting the sadness of the song. «Scatterheart» freed from the pressure of the film sounds more like Björk than the other songs and can even be included in Homogenic. On EW David Browne gives it a C- (5.5/10) saying it's just as impressive as Homogenic but there's something on the album that shows the "most precious and irritating aspects of Björk's elven voice." As for the songs, she talks about "I've seen it all" as if it were a song of the new millennium by Fred and Rogers.

In American hit network they give it an A- (8.5/10) saying of the singer that she managed to take the level of emotional creativity to a new level using all kinds of sounds like factory, onomatopoeia, trains, orchestras and even two celebrities as disparate as Catherine Deneuve and Thom Yorke. She says of the songs that they project images that can almost be seen and she relates it to the blindness of the film's leading actress, of "Scatterheart" she says that it is expressive while of "In the musicals" she is optimistic. As for the orchestration, he says that it is brilliant throughout the album and that it helps to color the melodies of the songs at the beginning and end of the album, "Overture" and "New world". In Pitchfork media they give it a 7.4 out of ten comparing the album to Homogenic, saying that it is inventive and unconventional and that it develops the sounds already exposed in the aforementioned album. He describes "Overture" as "wonderfully arranged", "Cvalda" he says is composed of "industrial machinery", "I've seen it all" he says it's somewhat cliché. According to Ryan Schreiber, the last song on the album manages to save the CD with one of "Björk's best works", "New world" begins with a slightly off rhythm that takes up the melody and horn of the "sublime "Overture&# 3. 4;." Although he considers the arrangements and production excellent, it only has a few memorable moments failing to reach the level of songs from Björk's previous works. He highlights the album as being rather collaborative, saying of him that only one of the seven songs is by the singer alone.

Listener Score

On Metacritic they give it a 9/10, while on Epinions they give it 4/5. On Amazon they give it a 4.4/5,

Song List

Lists and positioning

Musicians and production team

01. Production: Björk. Orchestra, direction and arrangement: Vincent Mendoza. Blend: Mark Spike Stent.
02, 04, 05, 06 and 07. Arrangement: Björk and Vincent Mendoza. (02, 04, 05 and 06. Production: Björk and Mark Bell).
03. Production: Björk and Mark Bell. Arrangement: Björk, Vincent Mendoza and Guy Sigsworth. Engineering and recording: Valgeir Sigurdsson at Greenhouse Studios, Reykjavik and Osterted Studios, Copenhagen.
All songs written by Björk. Exceptions: 02 and 05: Björk, Mark Bell, Sjón and Lars von Trier. 03, 04, 06 and 07: Björk, Sjón and Lars von Trier.

Location of sounds: Per Streit and Ad Stoop. Celesta Processing: Damian Taylor. Celesta: Björk and Guy Sigsworth. Vocal editing: Björk. Programming: Mark Bell and Valgeir Sigurdsson.
Orchestra recording: Geoff Foster. Assistant: Ben Georgiades at Air Lyndhurst Studios, London. Additional recording: Paul "Dub" Walton. Assistant: Matt Fields at Olympic Studios, London. Additional recording and Pro Tools: Jake Davies at El Cortijo Studios, Benahavís. Mixing: Olympic Studios, London. Pro Tools: Jan "Stan" Kybert. Mixing Assistant: Wayne Wilkins. Orchestral ensemble: Isobel Griffiths. Session coordination: Siobhan Paine.
Mark Bell appears courtesy of Warp Records.
Thom Yorke appears courtesy of Parlophone records.