FEATURE:
Groovelines
Björk - Oceania
_________
THIS feature provides…
a rare opportunity to discuss a Björk song that is not really talked about. The reason why I want to focus on Oceania is because the album it is from, Medúlla, was released on 30th August, 2004. Ahead of its twentieth anniversary, I wanted to throw some love towards one of its standout tracks. I wonder whether Medúlla will be reissued and get an anniversary release. Three years after the more electronic-influenced Vespertine, Björk wanted to create an an album almost entirely constructed with human vocals. A more simplified and stripped-down approach, though also quite complex and ambitious. An artist that changes between albums, it was only natural that she wanted to do something different. There was a lot of positive reception for Medúlla. If some critics deemed Björk’s fifth studio album confusing and were not as impressed as they were with her previous efforts, others applauded how the Icelandic icon was able to switch textures and colours between albums. A big commercial success, I don’t think that enough people know about Medúlla. If we talk about Debut (1993), Post (1995) and Vespertine (2001), there is not enough conversation around Medúlla. Written with Sjón (Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson), I am going to move on in a second. Prior to that, here is some critical reaction to Oceania:
“Oceania" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Jennifer Vineyard from MTV News called the song "one of those polarizing songs, with its Ethel Merman-like synchronized vocal sweeps that do suggest the aquatic, in a 1950s sort of way". Entertainment Weekly's Chris Willman labeled the track as a "strikingly beautiful" song. Alex Ross, reporter writing for The New Yorker stated that with "Oceania", Björk "confirmed her status as the ultimate musical cosmopolitan", acquainted with Karlheinz Stockhausen and the Wu-Tang Clan.
Matthew Gasteier from Prefix magazine called the track "the best song on the album", whilst complimenting "its swooping chorus [which] recalls the migration of birds or the time-elapsed drifting of icebergs, a swirl of beauty and power crashing down onto and then rising above the mix. It culminates in the near screech that leads into the sexy-spooky coda". According to Andy Battaglia from The A.V. Club, in a positive review, "the electronic flourish strays from her organic vocal focus, but Björk summons the same kind of tingle with choral language" in the song, "which finds The London Choir reacting to what sounds like a thrilling slow-motion circus act".
"Oceania" was "spoilt by some overenthusiastic vocal whoopings", according to David Hooper from BBC Music. The Guardian's writer David Peschek said that when the singer sings in the song, "choral swoops [explodes] like fireworks behind her". AllMusic's Heather Phares noted that the song, along with Medúlla's lead single "Who Is It", "have an alien quality that is all the stranger considering that nearly all of their source material is human (except for the odd keyboard or two)". Dominique Leone of Pitchfork thought "Oceania" was hardly the most obvious choice for a promotional single release, despite its "bizarre, swooping soprano lines and cyclical chord progression outlined by a chorus of Wyatt vocal samples". Jeremy D. Larson from Time magazine provided a mixed review to the song, stating that it was the best Olympic theme song, but during the Olympics performance, "when she sang 'Every pearl is a lynx is a girl' we think you could hear the world collectively sigh, 'Where's Celine Dion?'". In 2005, the song was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 47th Grammy Awards but lost out to Norah Jones' "Sunrise".
I am going to wrap up in a minute. There are a couple of things to cover off before that. In 2022, Medium highlighted a Björk album that focused on the human voice. Her most idiosyncratic release to that point. It ranks alongside my favourite album of hers. The superb Medúlla is a phenomenal album that more people should hear. I do hope that there is something planned for its upcoming twentieth anniversary:
“Coming off the critical acclaim of her past four releases, Bjork thought it was time to create an album using only the human voice. This is not just an acapella project, she would bring in the likes of Tanya Tagaq, Mike Patton, Razel, and Dokaka to create the beats and samples that bring the songs to life.
“The album is about voices, I want to get away from instruments and electronics, which was the world of my last album, Vespertine. I want to see what can be done with the entire emotional range of the human voice — a single voice, a chorus, trained voices, pop voices, folk voices, strange voices. Not just melodies but everything else, every noise that a throat makes.The last album was very introverted, It was avoiding eye contact. This one is a little more earthy, but, you know, not exactly simple.”
She was even thinking of having Beyoncé lead her vocals on this project (who unfortunately couldn't due to scheduling conflicts. Recording of the project began back in 2002 as she began to tease several of the tracks on her Greatest Hits tour in 2003 (“Desired Constellation”, “Where is the Line”, “Show Me Forgiveness”, and “Mouth’s Cradle”). She began writing the album shortly after the birth of her daughter Isadora, and as such, themes of motherhood bleed into the project.
“Pleasure is All Mine” and “Mouth’s Cradle” both pass along the theme of maternity. “Pleasure is All Mine” gives off a proud energy. She is happy to be this maternal/nurturing being at this point in her life, “The pleasure is all mine/ To get to be the generous one/ Is the strongest stance/ The pleasure is all mine/ To finally let go/ And evenly flow”. Sonically, it’s a fantastic way to start off the album. You get a little of everything: choirs, beatbox, and textural vocals and throat singing. It’s a delight. “Mouth’s Cradle” samples Bjork’s vocals to create these abstract beats and blips creatively. It almost sounds like programmed synth tones. Again, she discusses the closeness she feels with her new born daughter, Isadora, “There is yet another one/ That follows me/ Wherever I go/ And supports me…”. The track kind of warps on itself at the end as she begins to reference the then state of affairs of world politics and yearning to find safety and stability, “I need a shelter to build an altar away/From all Osamas and Bushes”.
“Oceania” was brought about by Bjork’s participation at the 2004 Olympics. She wanted to write a unifying song that didn’t tread the same cliches that other songs seem to have always fallen into:
“Basically, the Olympics people asked me to do a kind of ‘Ebony and Ivory’ or ‘We Are the World’ type song. Those are smashing tunes and all that, but I thought, ‘Maybe there’s another angle to this.’[…] I think, because the song is all about how the ocean doesn’t see boundaries between countries and thinks everyone is the same.”
What came from this is an utterly otherworldly masterpiece. The choir rises and falls like bubbles rising from below the depths of the ocean. The way these voices are arranged and distorted shimmer like sunlight from below the waves”.
One of the most interesting aspects of Oceania is its music video. Released as a single on 13th August, 2004, you only need to hear the song once before it truly hits you. The video takes you to another world. Directed by the incredible Lynn Fox, Oceania’s video premiered via Björk's official website. Björk made initial sketches for the video. Her impressions going down on paper. Exchanging ideas with Lynn Fox, there was this back and forth between them. The initial animation process was completed in six weeks. I like the fact that there were phone conversations and exchanged emails. The collaboration between artist and director. The shooting process was completed in a few days (in Iceland). Again, I am briefly going to bring in Wikipedia to give more details about the video:
“Like in the song, in the music video Björk is depicted as "Mother Oceania". The video opens with the surface of a body of water appearing yellowish and bright. Camera pans down to darker, deeper waters. Björk appears out of the dark background, singing and covered with sparkling jewels. As the second verse begins, images of jellyfish, representing the continents (her children) are thrown from Björk's hands. During the third verse they swim around and away from their mother, carried by the currents, which move in time with the song. In the bridge section, new sea flowers, with brilliant colors, emerge from the background, in contrast to the muted and darker colors of previous scenes.
As the fifth verse continues, the camera pans back up to the much lighter surface, not seen since the beginning of the video. All sorts of marine life are swimming about the surface. Shortly after the sixth verse begins, Bjork is shown in deep, dark water. Several seconds later, the lighter surface of the water is shown without her. When she begins to sing "Your sweat is salty", a somewhat rapid alternation of images ensues: the light surface is shown for one second, followed by Björk singing in the deep water; these scenes alternate until she stops singing during the coda. Björk's vocal repetition ceases at the same time the visual alternation stops. The surface scene recedes, and Björk in the deep water comes to the fore, slowing. At the end of the video, she stands and smiles”.
Recorded at Olympic Studios in London, I love the fact that Oceania was performed at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Wearing a blue dress with draping fabric that billowed around her, it was a fantastic performance. The single has just turned twenty. Then the album it is from turns twenty. Medúlla is a phenomenal work that everyone needs to seek out. One of Björk’s most captivating tracks, it also boasts one of her very best videos. Medúlla turns twenty on 30th August. I think that everyone needs to hear it. There is something accessible and extreme about the album. That is what critics have noted. How you can easily listen to the album, yet it is a very powerful and strange listen at times. Oceania is my standout from Medúlla. It is a song that still moves and affects…
TWENTY years later.