Björk

For the vast majority of artists, the release of a greatest hits album comes as a signal that their best work may lie in the past. For Björk, the opposite is true. "After I finished Vespertine, she says, "I felt as if I had completed something. I felt I almost caught up with myself and had done something I really wanted to do since I was a child. Now I feel I have got a clean slate, a new beginning to start all over again. I feel like I am at a crossroads, so it felt like the right time to put out a selection, or more of a retrospect, of the story so far."

The story so far begins in Iceland. Björk Gudmundsdóttir was born in Feykjavik, Iceland, in 1965, where she grew up in a communal household (though not a hippie commune, she's keen to point out). Music was played 24 hours a day. "I remember a queue by the record player," she says. "The record would finish and you'd be ready to put another one on." At the age of five she was enrolled in music school where she studied flute and piano for ten years. Then at the age of eleven she made an album with the help of her mother and friends. A big hit in Iceland, the eponymously titled Björk featured only one song written by Björk herself, though she became an Icelandic celebrity on the strength of its success. "I felt a lot of guilt," she admits. "I promised myself that I would never front anything unless I was the one who did it".

So at the age of 13 she started forming punk bands. First came Exodus, then Tippi Tikarrass, then K.U.K.L., a band that recorded two albums for the label run by the legendary UK anarchist band, Crass. "When I was a punk there was no such thing as Icelandic music," she says. "We had to invent it." In 1987, Einer Ãrn, Siggi Baldurson and Björk formed a new band; call The Sugarcubes, with Thór Eldon, Magga Ãrnólfsdóttir and Bragi Olafsson. From their first single, "Birthday", they were a band with unique qualities, combining a raw post-punk feel with touches of experimental sonority, affecting melodies and Björk's extraordinary, exultant singing. The Sugarcubes put Icelandic music on the world map, with Björk's personality, dress sense and vocal style tailor made for an increasingly faceless music scene in desperate need of strong, innovative and self-determined individuals.

By 1992, after 4 albums, The Sugarcubes were ready to split. Their last release - a remix project - reflected Björk's growing involvement in the UK dance scene. Beginning a lengthy professional relationship with Graham Massey, she had recorded with 808 State, singing on two tracks on their EX: EL album. Then Debut, released in July 1993, changed everything. Produced by Nellee Hooper, emerging as a leading producer after an apprenticeship in Bristol's vibrantly eclectic hip-hop scene and massive success with Soul II Soul, and featuring the string arranging and tablas of Talvin Singh and brass arrangements by Björk and Oliver Lake, the album introduced Björk as one of the most unusual solo artists and distinctive vocalists to appear in years.

"With Debut I was obviously a beginner," Björk admits. Her producer set up strange recording environments - a beach at night, a cave full of bats - in which she could test her limits. "Nellee Hooper was very supportive in helping me to deal with the world," she says, "the studio, my sense and longing for adventure." Despite the experimentation, more likely because of it, Debut was full of hugely accessible songs such as "Human Behaviour", "Venus As A Boy", "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy" that still rank as favourites.

Since Debut, her work has always followed her heart. Early days in Reykjavik listening to her grandparents' jazz collection, her mother's rock records, her classical music education, the songs, sagas and poetry of Iceland, anarchist punk bands and arguments about art were all carried with her into the musical vibrancy of London's stylistic, ethnic and artistic mix. Debut sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide and was followed in 1993 by Post, an even bigger success that added Graham Massey, Howie B and Tricky to Nellee Hooper's production skills. More big songs emerged from the album, including "Army of Me", "Isobel", "Hyperballad", "Possibly Maybe", "I Miss You" and "It's So-quiet", a rare cover version that became Björk's most successful record.

After Post's bigger beats and deeper sub-bass and the cartoonish big band outburst of "It's Oh So Quiet", Homogenic, released in 1997, was more experimental in its contrasting textures, more bold in its intensity and structure. Produced by Björk with Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth and Howie B, this was a project through which Björk began to feel more confidence in the breadth of her own ability. "Debut was the first time I talked about arrangements," she says. "Towards the end of Debut I talked about rhythms and towards the end of Post I got braver in that way and produced more. Maybe Homogenic was the first album where I knew how the whole production, the big picture, was going to be before it started. With Debut and Post, sometimes I would have half the song and I would ask someone to complete it, so it was like a duet collaboration. I guess in Homogenic I started to get a little more bossy." Songs like "Joga", "Bachelorette", "Hunter", "Alarm Call" and "All Is Full Of Love" proved how productive that new independence could be.

In conversation, Björk speaks often about courage and cowardice, both of which figure largely in the moral framework of her creative decisions. Characteristically, she has always pulled back from situations where celebrity or habit threatened to reduce her freedom, or she has expanded into areas of high risk where the potential for learning outweighed the possibility of losing credibility or commercial leverage. Her decision to both act in the starring role and compose the soundtrack for Lars Von Trier's Film, Dancer In The Dark, for example, exposed her to vitriolic criticism from some film critics yet earned respect among those who recognised her need to move forward and take on new challenges. Her choice of collaborators over the years - fashion designers Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, photographers Nick Knight, Stephane Sednaoui and Nobuyoshi Araki, video directors Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonz, percussionists Evelyn Glennie and Talvin Singh, remixers Dillinja, Funkstörung, Mika Vainio and Underworld - is a reflection of this desire to work with artists at the cutting edge.

With Vespertine, as ever, she had a sensitive ear for who or what is the hottest noise: the ferociously detailed micro-rhythms of the San Francisco duo Matmos, Mathew Herbert or Thomas Knak contrasting with the fragile acoustic beauty of harp, music box and clavichord. Despite rhythm tracks constructed by teams that defined state of the art beats, this was a collection of overpoweringly emotional songs. "Hidden Place", "Pagan Poetry" and "Cocoon" overflowed with gorgeous melodies and exquisitely inventive arrangements. Immediately recognisable as the creation of Björk, Vespertine was a distinct progression in her own work, emphatic evidence that she is totally beyond comparison with anybody else in her field.