Björk - Selmasongs (Dancer In The Dark OST) [2000]

Genre: Electronica, Soundtrack, Alternative, Ambient

MySpace: bjork

My opinion & thought: This the soundtracks album for the indie film "Dancer In The Dark" which was starring by Björk herself. A brilliant indie film + great soundtracks.

Stands out track(s): New World, I've Seen It All

Selmasongs was released in September 2000 by Icelandic singer, musician and actress Björk as a soundtrack to the film Dancer in the Dark, in which she also starred as the main character, Selma.

The album features classical arrangements as well as melodies and beats composed of sounds from mundane objects, such as factory machines and trains.

Notably, some of the song lyrics on the album are substantially different from the songs in the film; the most obvious example being "Scatterheart". Some lyrics were rewritten, perhaps to prevent spoiling crucial plot details, since the soundtrack was released in stores before the movie opened in theaters, or to make the record flow better as a stand-alone album. In particular, the song "I've Seen It All" loses much of its meaning, as Thom Yorke and Björk swap characters during the song (in the film, Björk duets with Peter Stormare and they maintain their characters throughout the song). In addition, the tracks "My Favourite Things" and "(The) Next-to-Last Song" do not appear on the album at all, possibly for the same reason. The track "I've Seen It All" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. For the track, Björk made a "webeo" with director Floria Sigismondi that premiered on September 1, 2000 on MTV.com. It used a shorter version of the song that the singer recorded specifically for the webeo.

The album was re-released in 2006 as a DualDisc including new DTS 24/96 5.1-channel surround sound mixes. The DualDisc also formed part of the (____surrounded):box set.

Tracklisting:

1. "Overture" (Instrumental) – 3:38
2. "Cvalda" (with Catherine Deneuve) – 4:48
3. "I've Seen It All" (with Thom Yorke) – 5:29
4. "Scatterheart" – 6:39
5. "In The Musicals" – 4:41
6. "107 Steps" (with Siobhan Fallon) – 2:36
7. "New World" – 4:23

Track 1 written by Björk and arranged, orchestrated, and conducted by Vincent Mendoza.

Tracks 3, 4, 6 & 7 written by Björk, Sjón & Lars von Trier.

Tracks 2 & 5 written by Björk, Mark Bell, Sjón & Lars von Trier.

Charts:

Country	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Austria	21
France	4	Platinum	242,000+
Finland	10
Norway	2
Poland	19
Sweden	12
Switzerland	20
U.K.	34
United States	41		201,000