By Kirsten Hammermeister
It’s June 1995 and the world has been officially entered the post-Debut era of Björk as the Icelandic artist releases her aptly titled sophomore album Post. Six singles from the LP were released over a 2 year cycle: ‘Army of Me’, ‘Isobel’, ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’, ‘Hyper-ballad’, ‘Possibly Maybe’ and ‘I Miss You’.
But the album didn’t cease to get trapped in its bubble of the mid-90s – it transcended. When we talk about Post by Björk and the way it stands the test of time, it is less about suggesting that Post remains relevant for our evolving moment but rather that the album is work of extraterrestrial-level enchantment. In 1998 Rolling Stones Journalist Lorraine Ali writes on the album, “When Post comes to an end, it feels like coming back from a good vacation: The last thing you want to do is re-enter the real world.”
Perhaps, we might say, Post’s sound and its experimental blend of genres evoke this sense of escapism because it is enmeshed with the singer’s own life at the time. We see—we hear— the glimpses of transition periods, the states of the in-between and new beginnings in Post’s delivery of pop, where it borders the musical realms of electronic and jazz. Before she was simply Björk, Björk Guðmundsdóttir was the vocalist for Reykjavík based post-punk band The Sugarcubes, who were an international success in their own right, and were active from 1986-1992 (bar a 20-year reunion concert in 2006). Only 7 months after the Sugarcubes had disbanded Björk released Debut in July 1993. A lot of the songs on Björk’s first solo album had already been written but it was with the help of producer Nellee Hooper that the singer’s musical vision could be fully realised. In moving to London after the Sugarcubes disbanded, Björk says it was a decision informed by her heart and where she saw was the hub for the music she wanted to create.
Post from 1995 was made to capture, in sound, Björk’s new London life, all the while still containing the traces of her alt-rock history. Alongside her trusted producer Hooper, who had initially encouraged Björk to produce the album herself but finally agreed after Björk’s insistence. The singer also picked back up the songs ‘Army of Me’ and ‘The Modern Things’, both of which she had written with composer Graham Massey of 808 States before the recording of Debut. With many others on the team alongside Hooper and Massey bringing Post to life, there is a strong sense that the connection and community are integral to the making of music, both in the studio and on the stage.
Post was made with the concert experience in mind. Björk had told MTV that the synth-heavy Debut was difficult to adapt for live performances (what she loves most) and so, the structure of the songs on Post were “simpler” and “stronger”. The album’s tour, Björk had said, aimed to be “more theatrical” than that of Debut’s (MTV 1995). More than this, Björk took this sense of theatricality into the process of making the songs themselves and then even further. In an interview with Dazed co-founder Jefferson Hack, Björk talked about the idea of switching personalities for different moods and occasions and how she was breaking this down. She said, “I think I'm learning to combine them. And that's kind of what Debut and Post are all about. Like, I would love to do one experimental electronic song with Graham and the next day I would love to be a diva walking down the staircase being a drama queen. “The day after, I would love to do a punk song, and that's very much how I've done my music so far, but I can feel very much that I'm starting to become more everything at once” (Dazed 1995).
Björk’s songwriting can be said to have this quality – everything all at once. The lyricism in Post is world-building, mystical and poetic. In a fan favourite, ‘Hyper-ballad’ looks at a love so sweet, it breeds a kind of aggression that just has to come out. Björk holds space for the strange and bizarre, the mystical, the equal and opposite forces at play in our lives, and offers this all to the listener with introspection, cheek and honestly – all in cosmic harmony.
In a personal favourite of mine, ‘Possibly Maybe’ almost promises a dreamy song to wash
over us, but it crosses over into the nightmarish. A love song, perhaps, possibly. A break up
song, mostly, maybe. But perhaps your favourite is the song is ‘Isobel’ written with Icelandic poet Sjón who would continue to be a collaborator with Björk throughout her career? Or are among the many who watched one of the most played clips on MTV, tuning into what would become Björk’s most successful single ‘Its Oh So Quiet’?
Post continues to be featured on many a list considering the greatest albums of the 90s, of the past 50 years, of the year, the albums most ‘essential’. I write this 30 th anniversary article today alongside others across the world and you’ll find more of these for other Post birthdays and still even more still with no date to declare as a rhyme and reason. Simply, we are mesmerised and moved by the music even in a post-Post era. And should we be surprised? Björk gave us a clue 30 years ago in the lines of ‘Cover Me’: I’m going to prove the impossible really exists.