Dig These Discs: Heart, Ann Wilson, Bjork, Heliotropes

Icelandic ladyswan Bj�rk releases her eighth studio album, a collection of fourteen songs selected and mixed by Bj�rk, Arca and Chris Elms recorded on the critically acclaimed "Vulnicura" tour. The amazeballs duo of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson return with their 19th studio album, "Beautiful Broken," a collection of seven re-dos of older songs, and sister Ann Wilson does her own "Thing" with her four-song EP. The Brooklyn-based psychedelic/alt rock band Heliotropes release their second studio album, the concept record "Over There That Way."

"Vulnicura" (Björk)

Icelandic ladyswan Bj�rk releases her eighth studio album, a collection of fourteen songs selected and mixed by Bj�rk, Arca and Chris Elms that were recorded on the critically acclaimed "Vulnicura" tour. It includes new versions of Bj�rk songs including "Come To Me," "Undo" and "I See Who You Are" by Venezuelan producer Arca and Bjork, and "Mutual Core" and "Mouth Mantra" by The Haxan Cloak and Bj�rk. The album expresses her feelings about her breakup with artist Matthew Barney, and the healing process. The sound is a blend of electronica and ambient music, with a healthy serving of the avant garde. In hand with the many videos featured at her MoMA retrospective show, "Vulnicura" makes a nice package. She starts with "Stonemilker," with its excellent strings composition; Bj�rk released a strings-only version for the VR head-set version of the video. The thin strings in "Lionsong" give it an Asian feel, as she sings, "Maybe he will come out of this, maybe he won't/somehow I'm not too bothered either way." As she notes, "this wild lion doesn't fit in this chair... I'm not taming no animal." She sounds like a little pixie in the ambient sound cut "History of Touches," remembering how she woke up in the night to "stroke your skin and feel you... Feeling this is our last time together." She keeps laying the heartbreak on in "Black Lake," kicking it off with the dour realization that, "Our love was my womb but our bond has broken, my shield is gone, my protection is taken/ I am one wound, my pulsating body." She levels the charges: he fears her limitless emotions; she's bored of his apocalyptic obsessions. Cue the cannon fire. Her track "Family" sounds like it was recorded inside of a dragon, and it's about as bright, too, as Bj�rk mourns the "death of my family." The theme continues in the avant garde track "Notget," as she sings, "After our love ended your arms don't carry me/ Without love I feel the abyss, understand your fear of death." Damn, dude, what did you do to her?!? At this point, her track "Undo," with its uncluttered composition and message of "It's not meant to be a struggle uphill... you're trying too hard," comes across as a sweet love song. She takes him under her wing in the percussion-inflected "Come To Me," singing, "You know that I love you, so don't make me say it, it would burst the bubble, break the charm." Her herky-jerky, metallic-sounding "I See Who You Are" imagines them "later this century, when you and I have become corpses." So, the usual bright stuff. She's got a "Wanderlust" in the most dancey cut of the album, but the rapid-fire machine gunning of "Quicksand" will leave you battered, despite Bj�rk's assurances that "when I'm broken, I am whole." She gave it her all, tried to form a "Mutual Core," but he "hid the key to our continuity." Bj�rk ends a long, emotional album with "Mouth Mantra," letting us know she's not hurt, but might take a vow of silence to "explore the negative space around my mouth." Bj�rk pre-toured her "Vulnicura" last year, so don't worry about scoring tickets. That'll leave plenty of time to stay home and wallow in despair. Yeah. Love, it's a bitch.
(One Little Indian Records)

"Beautiful Broken" (Heart)

The amazeballs duo of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson return with their 19th studio album, "Beautiful Broken," a collection of seven re-dos of older songs and three originals. The sisters say they wanted a second chance to get these '80s songs right. And they do. The title track is among the best on the album, and it comes first. Ann Wilson and Metallica's James Hetfield team up and go head to head on "Beautiful Broken," proving each to be a match for the ages. Ne-Yo pens one of the new tunes, "Two," as Nancy Wilson sings, "the heart and the mind rarely find anything on which they agree, but when it comes to you, I don't mind it; you make me happy." Early on, Nancy pegged the track "Sweet Darlin'" as one of the well-crafted, quality songs that never lived up to their potential, and that could benefit from a remake. That classic Heart sound of cascading harmony still comes out in "I Jump," but now, it's paired with tamed-down strings by Paul Buckmaster, who arranges equally delicate strings for the closing track, "Language of Love." "Johnny Moon" and "Language of Love" from "Passionworks" do away with their dated sound, and substitute piano and haunting harmonies. You'll get goosebumps when you hear Nancy Wilson whisper-sing, "whatever you got up your sleeve, whatever you tell me, Johnny, I'll believe." Thankfully, they kept that trippy '80s mewling guitar sound. "Heaven" gets a hard-rock reboot, a la Led Zeppelin, but loses some of its lovable luster in the process. "City's Burning" becomes a grungy hard rock song with growling riffs, singing, "he wanted to kill, and she wanted to die!" Amazingly, the Wilson sister's voices have stood the passage of time. There's a Janis Joplin swagger to Heart's "Down on Me," (not a Joplin cover) and despite its electric guitars, it becomes a torch song, as they sing, "wrapped around in sweet, sweet chains, feel the romance when we move." Children hide behind pretty words in "One Word," and the sisters end the album with that excellent "Language of Love," both with beautiful harmonies. Man, the '80s were awesome. Having Heart back in the mix is so sweet!
(Concord Records)

"The Ann Wilson Thing #2 - Focus" (Ann Wilson)

It's a one-two punch of Heart this month, when sister Ann Wilson releases her second solo EP via Rounder Records. The four-song EP includes a live recording cover of Jimi Hendrix' "Manic Depression," with Ann Wilson singing, "I know what I want, but I just don't know how to go about getting it," with screaming guitars backing her up. Wilson rules the Kate Bush/Peter Gabriel tune "Don't Give Up," singing, "I was taught to fight, taught to win, I never thought I could fail." The guitar toolings at the end are priceless. It also features two Wilson-penned tracks, the rockabilly folk song, "Fightin' Fer Life," which has her singing of a man "who is long and lanky, strong and freckly he's poetry walking." He moves slow and easy, speaks only truth -- and she likes when he sees her. She ends the EP with the sizzling blues track, "Anguish," featuring her crying refrain of "a-aah-a-ah-ahaaa-ahaa." Guitarist Craig Bartok co-wrote both of these with Wilson. This Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee adds a harder edge to the music with this EP. The Ann Wilson Thing doesn't attempt to replace Heart; it just gives you more Wilson sister material to love! Ann Wilson will take her songs on an intimate tour this fall, right after Heart's Rock Hall Three for All Tour, with Cheap Trick and Joan Jett finishes up in September. She'll play dates in Florida September 25-28. Catch her while the sun's still shining!
(Rounder Records)

"Over There That Way" (Heliotropes)

The Brooklyn-based psychedelic/alt rock band Heliotropes -- made up of founding member/songwriter/vocalist Jessica Numsuwankijkul, along with a rotating cast of collaborators, including drummer Cici Harrison, bassist Richard Thomas, and guitarist Ricci Swift -- release their second studio album, the concept record "Over There That Way." Numsuwankijkul's gentle voice is paired up with swirling psychedelic melodies to create a very different feel from their 2013 debut, "A Constant Sea." Even the lineup of backup musicians have changed, with nine players, including Swift and Thomas, who are now part of the band's official lineup. The album looks at World Wars I and II, which Numsuwankijkul was studying while she wrote the songs. She looks at the human impact of armed conflicts. They kick things off with the upbeat rock track "Normandy," singing, "Here we go, to a distant shore." The simple drums, guitar arrangements and saxophone on "Wherever You Live" give it a very '50s malt shop sound. She can see it in your eyes: "War Isn't Over" in one post-punk track, and gets introspective in the twangy strummer "Easy." The mood turns serious in the dark "Over There That Way," with male-female vocals providing a good balance as they sing, "Oh my mother won't you make my bed for me?/Come make it sweet and narrow, I'll barely live to sleep/ I'll find you before you find me, I'll hear you before you hear me." They grind it out in the alt-rock stunners "Dardanelles Part 1" and "Dardanelles Part II," but lay it out simpler, letting Numsuwankijkul's voice shine in the acoustic rock ballad, "My Only Friend," asking, "Can't we just pretend that it's the same as it ever was?" They make their way slow and steady through the affable "I Can't Remember," and end the album with the short guitar track "Goodnight Soldier," singing sweetly, "I must confess I was not the best at sailing your dark seas." It's not exactly the version patriots sing to servicemen, but it's a solid end to a strong concept album by the Heliotropes. Catch the band as they play several August concerts in Brooklyn and Queens.
(The End Records)