Medúlla

The record was started in 2002 as The Lake Album, and the Latin title means marrow. Björk meant to leave the electronics of Vespertine behind and use voices instead, and the guests were Tanya Tagaq, Mike Patton, Robert Wyatt, the beatboxer Rahzel, Dokaka, Shlomo, the human trombone Gregory Purnhagen and Icelandic and London choirs. Mark Bell produced some tracks and Nico Muhly played piano on Oceania. Beyoncé was planned as a guest but did not appear. Vökuró sets an Icelandic lullaby by Jórunn Viðar and Jakobína Sigurðardóttir, and Sonnets / Unrealities XI sets E. E. Cummings.

Reception

Björk told Dazed in 2004 that she wanted to do the opposite of the last album and make something compulsive and full of blood and muscle. She also said it was made in Manhattan after 9/11 and shaped by those circumstances, and credited Patton with introducing Rahzel. It reached number one in France, Iceland and Wallonia, number nine in the UK and number fourteen in the US, and sold over a million copies worldwide. Metacritic scores it 84 and the Guardian gave it five stars. Rolling Stone's Barry Walters called it her most extreme album and also her most immediately accessible. It earned two Grammy nominations.