The music of Bjork

This research provides the first major musicologically-informed analysis of Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjork's work to date. Bjork is internationally recognised for her unique and innovative musical style, her collaborative working relationship with artists, musicians and engineers, and her versatility as singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, film music composer, and actress. Her work crosses the boundaries between club culture and 'high art', and has won numerous awards. Furthermore, her involvement at all stages of the composition and production process is unusual for a female musician in a studio-based genre, and provides a particularly rich case study for contemporary compositional and production practices. This monograph contributes to the advancement of knowledge in popular music studies -a domain of study in which detailed musicological studies of popular music are still relatively rare.

The book resulting from this research will provide a detailed musicological analysis of Bjork's musical processes and products (audio and video tracks, live performances and recorded sound), examined in the light of the videos, artwork, critical reception, and fanzines that surround the music, supplemented by original interview material. The analysis will draw on the discourse surrounding her music to reveal and explore recurrent cultural themes brought
into focus by her music: landscape and identity, the relationship between humans and technology, song as a vehicle for emotional expression, and female autonomy and authorship. This includes an assessment of her reception by the media, wl1ich has focused largely upon her role as mother, girlfriend, and as an 'eccentric'. I argue that this is part of a broader reception ideology of (female) popular musicians, which functions to devalue the contribution made by popular musicians and their music to cultural life. Additional chapters focus specifically on her
Compositional process, including original interview material, and will reflect on the methodologies adopted in the book.

This detailed study will provide new insights into studio-based compositional processes and contribute to the development of analytical methods to engage with contemporary studio-based popular music. The focus on specific cultural themes will further understanding of how contemporary music participates in larger discourses, and how these discourses are drawn upon to make meaning of musical experiences. This book will be of direct interest to both established scholars and students of popular music, popular culture and screen studies, as well as to music analysts interested in developing analytical techniques appropriate to studio-based genres. It will also allow a more general interest audience to engage with popular music research, and document the collaborative processes behind the production of popular music.