DEBUT
BJÖRK
IT WAS THE ALBUM THAT ELEVATED BJÖRK FROM A MERE QUIRKY INDIE BAND SINGER WITH BAGS OF PROMISE TO A BOLD, SINGULAR, POLARISING TALENT – AND THE WORLD IS STILL CATCHING UP...
FELIX ROWE
A low-key Björk at the time of Debut. Soon her visual aesthetic would match her musical vision
Brian Rasic/Getty
Iceland has at least 85 words for snow. Not surprising when the country has tons of the stuff. But it really begs the question: how many words does it have to describe Björk? Thousands could be expressed without quite getting to the essence. But here’s one Debut. Björk’s first solo record is a cultural milestone of such magnitude that we can measure the state of play before and after its arrival.
Landing in 1993, Debut announced Björk as a singular innovator, light years ahead of many popstars then and since. That doesn’t make every last second an easy or straightforward listen.
Debut wears its awkwardness unashamedly and sometimes provocatively, but there are moments of beauty, humour and pure hedonistic pleasure too. Taking elements of house, trip-hop, jazz, industrial and Bollywood, it blends them into something else.