Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra Enjoy
With Enjoy, conductor Travis Sullivan begins with a noble idea, but kind of fumbles the […]
With Enjoy, conductor Travis Sullivan begins with a noble idea, but kind of fumbles the ball. His 18-piece orchestra translates Björk’s genre-damning, digitally contorted music into jazz-pop numbers. At its best, the orchestra has a mean swing, as heard on the title track and “Who is It?”. It’s just that it is difficult to consume Enjoy without wanting to just listen to the original songs instead. The main culprit is vocalist Becca Stevens; where Björk has arresting pipes that are simultaneously angelic and feral, Stevens sings like a wine-bar entertainer. Her pale attempt at stuttering on “Human Behavior” and her flat reading of “Alarm Call” spoil the fun.