THE MUSIC FROM DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 (OST)

I was inspired to review this because I saw that this was rated 1.59 before. This is not the Björk album I listen to most often as much of it is not easy to digest, but surely this is adventurous interesting music that should get some appreciation. It's apparently a soundtrack, which may explain a few of its peculiarities, but I don't know the film, so the music needs to speak to me on its own, which it does very nicely. I think this is mostly rated low because people expect something else rather than the album actually being bad. It's experimental music, and it doesn't have that much vocals of Björk, which is obviously why many would buy a Björk album in the first place. Tough luck. But let's face it, 99.9% of the music on this site doesn't have Björk singing and isn't criticised for that at all.

It starts off very nicely with "Gratitude". I love the shimmering glockenspiel-sound arrangement and the vocals are very well delivered by Will Oldham and some children, vulnerable and sensitive. Yeah, Björk doesn't sing herself but give the lady a rest!

"Pearl", a little calm experimental piece, fine for what it is if you don't have expectations. "Ambergris March" has some folk percussion and Japan-inspired light touch electronic sounds and melodies. Björk has managed to combine this influence here well with her own aesthetic, nicely balanced between sensitivity and machinery. "Bath" finally has Björk singing, but in a very experimental performance in which we hear her notes together with lots of breathing noises without clear melody. Again this sets up a vulnerable atmosphere, rather than being a "song" with "direction". Once more, the story of this album, when rating this against certain expectations that people have about a Björk album, it will disappoint, but in its own right it achieves what it tries to achieve.

"Hunter Vessel" - slowly marching brass oriented contemporary avantgarde music; or rather slowly marching in the beginning, then it changes between long flowing sounds and more intense marching parts with increasing speed. Somewhat formal but interesting and well composed. "Shimenawa" counters this with much softer thinner keyboard pads, the composition again being minimalist and atmospheric. "Vessel Shimenawa" takes it back to the brass again, though somewhat softer than "Hunter Vessel"; I'd expect this to be appropriate in a soundtrack, but on its own it doesn't add much to the two pieces before. On "Storm" Björk's voice is back, this time in a more characteristic fashion plus some electronic noises for which we knew she has a weak spot already before this. For once she fulfills expectations, although the song is rather haunting and monotonic, a far stretch from what got her in the charts once. Her vocal performance is impeccable, although I can see how some may find the noises annoying. "Holographic Entrypoint" is based on some (I'd think) intense experimental Japanese vocals by Shiro Nomura plus a second voice and very minimalist percussion. Fans of Japanese avantgarde may be used to this kind of stuff but most Western ears will struggle to get into how this works as "music". Undeterred, Björk lets this go on for a full 10 minutes. Well you get it or you don't. No complaints from my side about being exposed to this experience (and an experience surely it is!) although it's not going to enter my top 500 songs any time soon.

On "Cetacea", sequencer-like glockenspiel sounds are back, together with voicemaster Björk herself. The instrumental background is about as minimalist as it gets but I like this sound. The vocals are dynamic in intensity but static in speed; the whole thing goes round in circles. Another one that creates its very own special atmosphere, another one that isn't a proper song with direction for those who look for them. "Antarctic Return" is another minimalist soft and thin keyboard theme. It delivers a bit of intensity at the end, well, a very minimalist interpretation of "intensity". Not a real highlight at the end unfortunately, rather one of the tracks that probably rather served the film than a standalone album of music.

I'm fond of much contemporary avantgarde music, so my ears are open and prepared for this kind of thing. Some of the music on this album is very good, some quite challenging, with which I'm fine. Some parts are probably just there because they serve the film. Although they don't do much harm on their own, overall the fact that this is made as a soundtrack and doesn't therefore follow an entirely musical logic and flow keeps the album in some distance from the highest marks. This is what you have to live with when listening to soundtracks, so it's not really a complaint, but will make me round the 3.5 stars rather down than up. Anyway, a good and interesting album and its flaws as a work of "pure" music are all in my view down to the fact that it's actually a soundtrack.