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Selmasongs

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Selmasongs: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack 'Dancer in the Dark'
Soundtrack album by
Björk
Released18 September 2000
Recorded1999–2000
Genre
Length32:14
LabelOne Little Indian
Producer
Björk chronology
Homogenic
(1997) 		Selmasongs: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack 'Dancer in the Dark'
(2000) 		Vespertine
(2001)

Selmasongs: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack 'Dancer in the Dark' is the first soundtrack album by Icelandic musician Björk. It was released on September 18, 2000, by One Little Indian Records to promote and accompany the film Dancer in the Dark. In the film, Björk starred as Selma Ježková, a Czech immigrant who has moved to the United States. The album features classical arrangements, as well as melodies and beats composed of sounds from mundane objects, such as factory machines and trains.

Notably, some songs on the album have lyrics that are substantially different from their lyrics in the film, the most pronounced example being "Scatterheart". The album omits the vocals of actors David Morse, Cara Seymour and Vladica Kostic. Some lyrics were rewritten, perhaps to prevent spoiling crucial plot details, since the soundtrack was released in stores before the movie opened in theaters, or to make the record flow better as a stand-alone album. In particular, on the song "I've Seen It All", Thom Yorke performs the words sung by Peter Stormare in the film. In addition, the tracks "My Favourite Things" and the original "Next to Last Song" do not appear on the album at all, despite appearances in the film.

The track "I've Seen It All" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and was released as a promotional single in 2000. For the track, Björk made a "webeo" with director Floria Sigismondi that premiered on September 1, 2000, on MTV.com. It used a shorter version of the song that the singer recorded specifically for the webeo.[1]

Background

[edit]
Björk promoting the film at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

Björk was initially offered the opportunity to write and produce the score for the film Dancer in the Dark. When she read the script, though, "the idea of putting all of me into this other person and trying to imagine what her interior would sound like was really exciting and quite liberating". Eventually, director Lars von Trier persuaded her to play the starring role. "The angle I took on it was that it wasn't really acting", said Björk. "Then when we started preparing for the acting I told [Trier] from the top that I would have to feel it from instinct. And he said 'That suits me fine because I can't stand actresses and acting'".[2] Filming of Dancer in the Dark began in early 1999.[3] She plays Selma, a Czech immigrant and single mother working in a factory in rural America who is going blind.[4] Björk, who was known primarily as a musician, had rarely acted before, and has described the process of making the film as so emotionally taxing that she would not appear in any film ever again.[5][6] She had several disagreements with Trier over the content of the film, and later called him sexist,[7] accusing him of sexual harassment.[8] Co-star Catherine Deneuve and others have described her performance as feeling rather than acting.[9] Björk has said that it is a misunderstanding that she was put off acting by this film; rather, she never wanted to act but made an exception for Trier.[10]

According to David Toop in The Wire, Selmasongs bridges "the art of noise of the Futurists, the plastic fantastic musique concrète slapstick of Esquivel, Dean Elliot and Jack Fascinato, techno beats and Broadway musicals".[11] Barney Hoskyns wrote that the album continues the blend of techno and soaring strings first explored on Homogenic (1997), describing the contents as "torch-song histrionics with skittering Warp backbeats."[12] Björk created the music using found sounds she recorded with a DAT recorder on the set of the film, resulting in a musique concrète style.[13] As Toop explained, "Since the Selma character is isolated by blindness, stoicism and physical imprisonment, Björk used location sound as a way of finding music in ambient noise, one of the only sensory environments accessible to her."[11] Accordingly, "Cvalda" starts with industrial sounds which soon become "a clipping shuffle", while "I've Seen It All" is built around a rhythmic loop of train sounds — created by Mark Bell and Valgeir Sigurdsson — which was compared by Toop to the sound design of the film Stalker (1979).[11]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic76/100[14]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[15]
Entertainment WeeklyC−[16]
Los Angeles Times[17]
Melody Maker[18]
NME8/10[19]
Pitchfork7.4/10[20]
Q[21]
Rolling Stone[22]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[23]
Spin8/10[24]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[14] Heather Phares from AllMusic gave a positive review, commenting, "Selmasongs' best tracks are poignant, inventive expressions of Björk's talent and Selma's daydreams and suffering. [...] Selmasongs paints a portrait of a woman losing her sight, but it maintains Björk's unique vision".[15] While giving a "C−" grade, David Browne from Entertainment Weekly noted that "the melding of drum and bass rhythms and panoramic classical orchestrations is as sonically impressive as it was on 1997's Homogenic. But something here brings out the most precious and irritating aspects of Björk's elfin voice", but "yet Selmasongs is mostly show tunes on Ecstasy, and you keep praying for a police raid".[16]

Accolades

[edit]

The song "I've Seen It All" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, at the performance of which Björk wore her famous swan dress.[25]

Awards
Recipient Award Category Result Ref.
Selmasongs 21st Brit Awards Soundtrack/Cast Recording Nominated [26]
13th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Original Score Nominated [citation needed]
4th Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Original Score Nominated [citation needed]
19th Robert Awards Music of the Year Won [citation needed]
"Overture" 43rd Annual Grammy Awards Best Pop Instrumental Performance Nominated [27]
"I've Seen It All" Best Pop Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying A Vocalist(s) Nominated [27]
73rd Academy Awards Best Original Song in a Motion Picture Nominated [27]
58th Golden Globe Awards Best Original Song Nominated [27]
1st Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Original Song Nominated [citation needed]
5th Golden Satellite Awards Best Original Song Won [citation needed]

Commercial reception

[edit]

Selmasongs sold more than 48,000 copies in the United States in less than two weeks.[28]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Overture"BjörkBjörk3:38
2."Cvalda" (with Catherine Deneuve)
  • Björk
  • Bell
4:48
3."I've Seen It All" (with Thom Yorke)
  • Björk
  • Sjón
  • Trier
  • Björk
  • Bell
5:29
4."Scatterheart"
  • Björk
  • Sjón
  • Trier
  • Björk
  • Bell
6:40
5."In the Musicals"
  • Björk
  • Bell
  • Sjón
  • Trier
  • Björk
  • Bell
4:41
6."107 Steps" (with Siobhan Fallon)
  • Björk
  • Sjón
  • Trier
  • Björk
  • Bell
2:36
7."New World"
  • Björk
  • Sjón
  • Trier
Björk4:22
Total length:32:12

Personnel

[edit]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Selmasongs.[29]

  • Mark Bell - producer (2-6), programming, writer (2, 5)
  • Björk – arrangement (2-7), celesta, performer (2-7), producer, vocal editing, writer
  • Jake Davies - additional recording, Pro Tools technician
  • Catherine Deneuve - performer (2)
  • Matt Fields - additional & assistant recording
  • Geoff Foster - orchestra recording
  • Ben Georgiades - assistant orchestra recording
  • Isobel Griffiths – contractor (orchestra)
  • Siobhan Fallon Hogan - performer (6)
  • Jan 'Stan' Kybert - Pro Tools technician
  • mecompany - cover
  • Vincent Mendoza – arrangement, orchestra conductor
  • Siobhan Paine - coordinator (Olympic Sessions)
  • Sjón - writer (2-7)
  • Valgeir Sigurðsson – engineering, programming
  • Guy Sigsworth – arrangement (3), celesta
  • Spike Stent - mixing
  • Ad Stoop - location sounds
  • Per Streit - location sounds
  • Damian Taylor - celesta processing technician
  • Lars von Trier - writer (2-7)
  • Paul 'Dub' Walton - additional recording
  • Wayne Wilkins - mixing assistant
  • Thom Yorke - performer (3)

Charts

[edit]

Certifications and sales

[edit]
Certifications and sales for Selmasongs
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[54] Platinum 200,000^
United States — 201,000[55]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Mirapaul, Matthew (August 21, 2000). "Music Videos Enter the Digital Age". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2008.
  2. ^ bjork.fr. "A brave new Björk". Björk.fr. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Fine Line Feature's presents Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark". 15 August 2000. Archived from the original on 15 August 2000. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Fine Line Features presents Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark -- About the Film". 3 February 2001. Archived from the original on 3 February 2001. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Bjork launches celluloid comeback". BBC News. 2 November 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  6. ^ "Björk Uncovers Dancer Feud". TVGuide.com. October 2, 2000. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  7. ^ Bryan Appleyard (12 July 2009). "Should Lars von Trier's Antichrist be banned?". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  8. ^ "Björk reveals more details of alleged sexual harassment by director". The Guardian. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  9. ^ Pytlik, Mark (29 May 2003). Bjork: Wow and Flutter. ECW Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-55022-556-3. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2007-11-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ a b c Toop, David (November 2000). "Björk: SelmaSongs (One Little Indian TPLP1 51 CD)". The Wire. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  12. ^ Hoskyns, Barney (December 2000). "Revue/Re-View 2000: RBP's Goodest, Baddest and Ugliest of The Year – Part 1". Rock's Backpages. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  13. ^ Garratt, Sheryl (July 2003). "Björk: The Wild One". The Word. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Reviews for SelmaSongs: Music from the Motion Picture Dancer in the Dark by Björk". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  15. ^ a b Phares, Heather. "Selmasongs – Björk". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  16. ^ a b Browne, David (18 September 2000). "Selmasongs". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  17. ^ Nichols, Natalie (10 September 2000). "Songs of Optimism in a Grim Setting". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 29 September 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  18. ^ "Björk: Selmasongs". Melody Maker: 50–51. 26 September 2000.
  19. ^ Empire, Kitty (13 September 2000). "Björk – SelmaSongs". NME. Archived from the original on 17 October 2000. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
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  25. ^ Levy, Emanuel (14 January 2003). All about Oscar: the history and politics of the Academy Awards. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-8264-1452-6. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
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  28. ^ "Tímarit.is".
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  48. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Soundtrack / Björk – Selmasongs". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
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  54. ^ "Japanese album certifications – ビョーク – セルマ・ソングス～ミュージック・フロム・ダンサー・イン・ザ・ダーク" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2001年7月 on the drop-down menu
  55. ^ "Got charts? Creed, Eminem, No Doubt, 'NSYNC have something in common". MTV News. 25 January 2009. Archived from the original on December 4, 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
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