Björk – sublime eccentricity.
Björk in concert at Glastonbury 2007 – recorded June 22. 200
Björk this evening – in concert from the legendary Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm and recorded for posterity by BBC 6 Music.
Björk is a soprano, with a range spanning from E3 to D6. Her singing voice has been described as both “elastic” and “somersaulting” in quality as well as being praised for her scatting ability, unique vocal stylings and delivery. In a review for her live performance at the 2011 Manchester International Festival, Bernadette McNulty of The Daily Telegraph commented, “the 45-year-old still uses electronic dance beats with a full-blooded raver‘s passion and the elemental timbre of her voice has grown more powerful with age”.
In late 2012, it was reported that Björk had undergone surgery for a polyp on her vocal cords. Commenting on the success of the procedure after years of maintaining a strict diet and using vocal exercises to prevent vocal injury, she “stayed quiet for three weeks and then started singing and definitely feel like my cords are as good as pre-nodule“.[231] However, in a review for Biophilia, Kitty Empire of The Guardian stated that pre-surgery Björk still sounded strong, commenting that her voice was “spectacular and swooping”, particularly on the song “Thunderbolt”.
In a similar vein, Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine adds that her voice has been “preserved quite well”; however also noting that her voice has become too hoarse and shouty, adding “it’s only where her most dramatic vocal pyrotechnics are concerned that there’s any question of physical ability”. NPR counted Björk among its list of “50 Great Voices” and MTV placed her at number 8 on its countdown “22 Greatest Voices in Music”. She has been ranked 60th as one of the 100 greatest singers ever, and 81st as one of the 100 greatest songwriters ever by Rolling Stone, who praised her voice as being unique, fresh and extremely versatile, fitting and being influenced by a wide range of influences and genres.
