Bjork Debut

Bjork 'Debut' (One Little Indian, 1993)

In the summer of 1993 I worked as a temporary janitor during the summer break. I got the job because Ewan's dad was deputy head at a nearby school and both Talker and Ewan had done the job the previous year. We all worked from a modern school which had a coal boiler for some political reason or another. I always managed to skive boiler cleaning duties using asthma as an excuse and would congratulate my friends on their sterling efforts as they returned to the jannie's office as if emerging from a day down the pit. The pay was amazing and we were sent all over the city to weed playgrounds, fix windows or paint corridors which had been neglected by jannies during the rest of the year.

Memories, all hazed by absolutely brutal hangovers, include having golf balls shot at me as I arrived at a school where I was replacing a jannie who had had his retina detached in a baseball bat attack and whose burnt out car remained outside the playground, trying to put out a fire in a gym hall which had been the target of young arsonists and overfeeding some fish.

The fish still send a shudder down my spine. I had been instructed to feed the fish regularly, but being overfamiliar with fish I was feeding them too much. One day a glazier arrived on the premises, to fix the holes made by the aforementioned golf balls, and the regular air gun attacks (Me to six year old 'Go and stop shooting your gun at the windows', him to me 'It wasnae me', me to him 'Aye right', him to me 'Dinnae get cheeky with me mister or I'll go and get ma da'. Seriously) and he pointed out to me that the fish were dying in their now mud like water.

'What should I do?'; 'You need to syphon out that water mate and replace it'. I was given a swift, almost too professional, tutorial on syphoning and left to get on with it. I promptly swallowed at least three pints of stagnant fish excreta as I attempted to empty the huge tank. I am sitting here grimacing as the memory of that unique 'taste' is recalled. The good news; the fish lived.

With the money I saved that summer, after paying my Mum a much debated rent, I bought my first separates; a NAD turntable, a Sherwood amp and some Mission speakers. I took the set up back through to Glasgow with much pride and placed it in my depressingly small little student room. Not only was the room depressing, but I was depressed. I was heartbroken. Deservedly dumped the previous year I was still struggling to come to terms with what a see you next Tuesday I'd been and was filled with hideous self-pity. I was and had been, in Edinburgh terms, a fanny.

The first record I bought to grace my new audio system was Bjork's 'Debut' and it brought a little bit of light into my angst filled doom. I loved 'Hit' by the Sugarcubes and was amazed by Bjork's voice so when I noticed that 'Debut' was making waves in the indie press I went down to Fopp on Byers Road, made the purchase and rushed back to Ruchill to listen.

It sounded brilliant; bass warm panoramic soundscapes with crystal clear detail enveloped me all wrapped up in the most idiosyncratic voice. I quickly became obsessed. It was actually quite sad; I hung on every nuance of her voice, the pronunciation, the cracks, gargles, restrained growls, the wildness. The lyrics were also compelling; childlike, poignant, naïve but knowing.

'Debut' was an album which I listened to too much. I overdid it and like a junkie I had to go cold turkey after about a year of heavy abuse. The end came in the summer of 1994 when I saw her at T in the Park. I danced like a loon and Bjork and I left on good terms.

She is a visionary who has continued to push at the boundaries of popular culture, but I've not been swept along with her. I really, really went off her when she did the truly awful 'It's oh so quiet', but I would recommend listening to 'Medulla' in 5.1 as it's quite an experience.

There is a bit of filler here, but 'Human Behaviour', 'Big Time Sensuality' and album highlight 'Violently Happy' all sound great, 18 years after I last listened to them!

Peace