by B. J. Carter
Coastal Journal staff
The songs themselves sound like fairly traditional, light jazz standards played by a spartan trio of piano, upright, and drums. Tempo ranges from slow to middle of the road. Very little soloing. Episodes of “Frasier” come to mind. Most of the singing is in Icelandic. Warm, rounded vowels are replaced with hard, aggressive consonants. The young vocalist is crude, eccentric, and very enthusiastic, switching moods rapidly, sometimes even in the same breath . . .
Gling Glo (”Ding Dong”) isn’t your typical tribute to 1950s jazz. It was released in Iceland on Christmas Day in 1990 as a side project for Bjork, who was then fulfilling vocal duties in her band The Sugarcubes, and the venerable Gudmunder Ingolfsson Trio. State radio had commissioned the trio to record a set of live jazz tracks, but they were itching for a singer to come on board and breath some life into the proceedings. They recruited Bjork, whom they’d known since she was a teenager hanging out in their recording studio, and started touring the country. They recorded Gling Glo in just two days with no overdubs at Studio Syrland in Iceland. It went platinum in Iceland and finally got the star treatment it deserved when One Little Indain re-released it in 2003.
The funny thing about Gling Glo is that if you consider yourself a jazz purist, you probably won’t like what Bjork does to these songs the first time around. She doesn’t so much perform them as perform over them, and even though you can’t understand a word of it, the energy is more “Star Search,” less lounge lizard. Of course, she’s flirted with jazz throughout her career, most notably with the Post hit “It’s Oh So Quiet.” That’s a charming song with a charming video, but it’s sung in English, and it’s the only song of its kind on that record. A whole album of “It’s Oh So Quiets" might be a bit more . . . taxing. Or rewarding, depending on how you feel about it.
Gling Glo isn’t taxing, but it is rewarding; it’s intriguing, playful, and even thrilling at times. It’s a theatrical performance from one of the most unique voices in the world before she became the pop provocateur that she is now, and the band, primarily in a supporting role, gets to strut its stuff a bit on tracks like “Litli tónlistarmadurinn” and “Í dansi med thér.” There are a few songs sung in English, and the best of these is “I Can’t Help Loving that Man.” Most importantly, all the players sound like they’re having a good time, a mood that is infectious.
Recommended use: Dinner or coffee parties. Lyrics available at www.bjork.com
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