After 30 years in pop, countless image changes and stylistic U-turns, Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjork Guomundsdottir remains impossible to pigeonhole.
Whether a wailing jazz singer, a Scando-punk drummer, a 1980s indie queen or a dance-floor diva, Bjork has remained a vital force in experimental pop and yet in the process has had an important influence on many mainstream acts, including female stars such as Kylie Minogue and Faye Wong.
To many she is the coolest woman in rock, but she describes herself as a 'nerd' and many people would certainly class her as eccentric. Since she released her first album, aged 11, Bjork has blazed her own unique trail, acquiring a devoted following for her melding of musical styles. Her musical range covers electronica, ambient, indie, trip hop, pop, folk and jazz, and is set off by a unique vocal delivery that's part quivering young girl, part Amazon.
Visually, too, the 42-year-old singer's style is her own. She leads in a way the likes of Madonna can only dream of (she wrote Bedtime Story for Madge). Pictures show she retains the impishness fans remember from her days as frontwoman in The Sugarcubes, with whom she made her name, and her videos are more often sensual art-house than MTV. Bjork is to appear in Hong Kong next week as part of her world tour to promote her most recent album, Volta, which explores humanity's imprint on the world through typically unusual arrangements of Icelandic horns, African rhythms and strings from China.
On the album, Bjork worked with such diverse influences as Malian kora player Toumani Diabate and American producer Timbaland, and it has proved her durable appeal, going into the top 10 in the US and Britain.
'I'm very excited,' she says.