It’s Oh So Quiet, Bjork
This is one of the more bizarre songs I’ve chosen to post on Turntablr, mostly because its performer is one of the more bizarre artists operating today in the music world. Björk Guðmundsdóttir, better known by her far simpler stage name, has earned both praise and notoriety in her 20+ years in the biz for her outlandish (Icelandic?) vocal delivery, innovative musical arrangements, spontaneous attacks on Japanese reporters, and swan dresses. “It’s Oh So Quiet,” off her 1995 sophomore solo album Post, remains her biggest career hit, a renamed cover of the Betty Hutton song “Blow A Fuse.” Much like Bjork herself, the song has a personality of its own, alternating between disquietingly soft verses and loud, emotionally spastic choruses. It opens pleasantly enough, featuring a jazzy clarinet line and Bjork’s hushed, whispered delivery, before erupting into a chorus of brassy horns and the Icelandic singer’s characteristically crazed screaming. From that point on, the song is an emotional rollercoaster, meant to mimic its lyrics about the highs and lows of falling in love. It features some of the jazziest horn rolls I’ve heard in any modern pop song; perhaps if Bjork weren’t quite so artistically absurd, this song could be some kind of modern standard. In the post-90s world in which we live, it is a relatively forgotten pop gem, boasting impressive instrumental and lyrical delivery amidst our current plethora of synthed up electro-crap. Personally, I don’t love much of her other material, but this song is instantly memorable and catchy.
