4. BjorkHomogenic
I would say Vespertine is actually my favourite, but for that time period, Homogenic was the one. I loved the artwork. I’d never heard of Björk – I just loved the artwork and listened to it. It was ‘Bachelorette’ that turned me. I listened to it, and on the first go, I loved it. When that track came in and just how powerful her vocal performance was – it was so muscular and ugh! I loved it. It was so impressive.
At 15, I was shipped off to a school in Sussex. You don’t really see snow in London, but it was snowing a lot there. It’s funny, it’s a very fiery album, but walking through the downs and listening to that record, on repeat over and over surrounded by white? It was a very beautiful experience. I was very unlucky that the people around me didn’t really love my music taste. The people who loved my music were my English teacher and this older kid that used to give me psychedelics. Those are the only people I would talk to about that kind of music.
It’s what I wanted pop music to sound like. It’s all of this stuff I’m enjoying from the beat heads, the underground Warp type-stuff, but it’s got a very song-based foundation. And then it’s just her own thing. I don’t think anybody else sounds like Björk: Björk’s just Björk, especially on those two records. I don’t know anything that really sounds like that, and that’s so impressive to me. It’s something I strive for as well, having a take unique enough that’s a Tony sound, or a Tony melody.
