First I saw the pictures of Björk on fire.

Then I put the album cover on my computer desktop at work.

But no one seemed excited.

Then I saw her on Saturday Night Live, singing EARTH INTRUDERS with a backup chorus of women in garbage bags. And I thought: THIS is the Timbaland song?

It doesn't sound like SexyBack. It does sound a little like Human Behavior. But where's the melody?

Then I found a bit of one on WANDERLUST. But it was so ... glacial/martial/partial/stately/measured/plodding. And I realized we weren't dealing with Homogenic or Vespertine here, but another model for a Björk album: SELMASONGS.

Will she ever escape from the scars of Lars? No, in fact, she's chosen a husband with just as much potential to cut in Matthew Barney. Nothing for Björk if not a challenge, a mountain to climb, an unfaithful kitty to send you out drinking and stumbling home drunk in the cold. She goes through all this so she can feel happier, to be safe with you.

Anyway, WANDERLUST borrowed the horns from Anchor Song and mixed them with skittering percussion (which seems to be the only instrument section providing the voltage to Volta), but it feels tragic rather than fun, like an ISOBEL with no idea of where to go.

I first saw Anthony and the Johnsons on Letterman, and I thought: "Oh, he's not the vocal Moby; he's a brand new Tiny Tim." Here he reminds me of some of the androgynous voices David Lynch uses for his soundtracks, but he does make a worthy partner to Björk. In fact, when I hear THE DULL FLAME OF DESIRE I think of her duet with Thom Yorke on SELMASONGS, "i've seen it all," which was a pretty horrifying number, too. It's about the pain two people can cause each other, even as they cling to each other for survival.

It also makes me think of the rather stifled Siouxsie/Morrissey collaboration from years ago, "Interlude," but it's more interesting, and takes a long time to unfold in the manner of a Kristin Hersh or Joanna Newsom song. It has its own logic. It's not pre-digested. It's hardly digested at all.

INNOCENCE is sort of funky, and cries out for some better remixes to pretty it up. The single will be fun when it comes out.

My headphones help I SEE WHO YOU ARE find a post send a telegram to oceania.

Counting step by step, I also count VERTEBRAE BY VERTEBRAE, wondering what soundtrack I'm hearing to a movie never filmed, because I know she will never act again. But she's acting now.

At least I don't have PNEUMONIA. This is not a very pretty album. Places where Björk could have been seductive, as she was on Vespertine, she isn't here. She's harder, making more rigorous, less natural choices. More distant, closed off. The definition of challenging. Or maybe just challenged. There's a lot of form, a little formula, but feelings are very indirect. There's shape, but no texture. The tragedy at the center of this portrait is vague, faded, the face turned away.

At last there's HOPE. There's a fluid, flexible world music vibe here; if the WANDERLUST ever stops and settles down, comes to light, focuses long enough, or even for a little while, something fulfilling and fleeting like this can be uncovered. A hummingbird floating in space.

But that's not the key. That's what she's always been able to do, not something new, which is what she's searching for here (though she doesn't find it). The key is DECLARE INDEPENDENCE. Because Björk is angry, and this is a protest song. Rage Against the Machine should cover it.

MY JUVENILE. Am I still the Army of Me? Will I always be only one? Give me a biscuit. Let's stop moving, just for a second. Let's breathe. And forget. Or remember? Forget.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Waking up