Confusingly known in the Bjork oeuvre, and it’s actual technical title, as SelmaSongs: Music from the Motion Picture Dancer in the Dark, this a small album known for her duet with Radiohead’s Tom Yorke entitled “I’ve Seen It All.” A small album, yes, but a powerful, heart breaking, and gut wrenching album. The story of the film is bizarre, ultimately tragic, and, arguably, melodramatic in the most literal sense. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the film, but it takes you inside the mind and life of an eccentric mother who is sentenced to death, and ultimately must make sacrifices to save the livelihood of her son.

Musically, the score weaves together an organic, orchestral sound with a nervous, almost twitching, musical arrangement. Her signature “microbeats” ala her albums Homogenic, Vespertine & Medulla are present. This album is on the skirts of being defined as a cast album. In fact, I don’t categorize it as such. It’s more a solo album that includes many of the songs from the film. Mostly Bjork solos, there is one duet with Tom Yorke, I’ve Seen It All, which was nominated for an Oscar, and subsequently robbed of by Bob Dylan. It paints this sweeping emotional musical landscape that leaves you with chills, out of breath, and in love with Bjork and/or Yorke.

SelmaSongs is a strong Bjork solo album in it’s own right, but it is a recording of a movie musical, so I keep it in my collection of musicals. The highlights of the album are every song, because there are only 6, equally beautiful, equally painful.

Bjork’s music has always had a theatrical element to it, so a musical soundtrack, for me, feels right up her alley. SelmaSongs is a beautiful, albeit small, album that I think deserves attention if you are a fan of movie musicals.