Toronto Sun  1997-01-24

By ???


"Bjork redeems the remix"


   TORONTO (CP) -- Music is like sex, says eccentric Icelandic pop pixie
   Bjork -- at its finest when it's a collaborative effort.


"Why have sex alone when you can do it with someone else?" Bjork says in 
response to a question about her third solo album, Telegram, as her 
elfin face breaks into a mischievous grin.
 
The new album, which Bjork was promoting in Toronto recently, features 
remixes of nine tracks from her 1995 CD Post and the new song My Spine.
 
She collaborates on Telegram with British techno artists like Outcast, 
Dobie and Dillinja along with a colorful range of world musicians and 
composers.
 
The 31-year-old fashion trailblazer looked decidedly sedate for this 
interview, wearing a geometric navy wool pant suit. The only evidence of 
rock star frivolity was her hair, with black tufts jutting crazily from 
her scalp.
 
Bjork's music is a melange as unique as her hair, marrying otherworldly 
electronic chords and noises, obscure instruments and strong, 
kaleidoscopic percussion.
 
Her formidable voice routinely transforms from little girl whisper to 
lion's roar, including an assortment of shrieks, grunts and ecstatic 
exclamations.
 
Bjork's role on Telegram was akin to a master chef who picked the basic 
ingredients for the recipe and then allowed someone else to add the 
spices and concoct the entree.
 
But she disputes the popular criticism that remixes -- often associated 
with overlong dance mixes and repetitive, lifeless drumbeats -- are 
always derivative or inferior to the original songs.
 
"It's really exciting if you think a friend will take your song another 
way," she says.
 
"Remixing is not this new thing. There's always been this tradition 
about doing many versions of one song, just like there's many sides to 
one story.
 
"I've always had this soft spot for scientists. I wanted to be a sort of 
musical scientist."
 
Bjork calls herself "a bit of a fascist" when it comes to music.
 
"Not to be cruel, but I don't see the point in BritPop. I mean, it's 
kind of been done, you know? Either improve it or do something that 
hasn't been done before."
 
The ornate remixes on Telegram bear out Bjork's theory that cross-
pollination can lend a new, often completely different character to the 
original piece.
 
The futuristic-sounding treatment of Hyperballad by producer Nellee 
Hooper on Post is transformed on Telegram into a symphonic piece laden 
with emotion. The electronic bleeps, computer noises and too-rapid drum 
track are replaced with an intense classical string piece by the Brodsky 
quartet.
 
Headphones, originally mixed with Bristol trip-hop artist Tricky, 
features about one-third of the original lyrics and the music is reduced 
to a few spare, ominous chords on the new collaboration with Finnish 
musician Mika Vainio.
 
Telegram also features a richer version of the catchy Isobel, reworked 
with composer Eumir Deodata into feistier, Brazilian-flavored rendition 
with a 30-piece orchestra.
 
Known for being a pioneer, Bjork says she's not addicted to mainstream 
success and likes taking musical risks.
 
"I just try to be as brave as I can and to take in every minute. I'm not 
saying I can. I can do it one out of a thousand times but I do try. It's 
all about the music for me. It's my obsession.
 
"For me, music is a reaction to what happens to me. It's like a way out. 
You try to make sense and then there is no sense and then you write a 
song and for the moment everything makes sense.
 
She pauses before adding: "MY kind of sense."