Björk just announced last week that she would release her latest album, “Vulnicura,” in March. However, when some of the songs were leaked, the singer quickly put out the album some 2 months ahead of schedule. Click here to download “Vulnicura” on iTunes now.
The album is about Björk’s split from Matthew Barney, her longtime partner and father of her 12-year-old daughter, Isadora. Pitchfork writes that “The love, struggle, and dissolution are all plain in the lyrics, which are uncharacteristically diaristic.” Click here to read Bjork’s interview with Pitchfork.
Björk posted the below message about the making of “Vulnicura” on her Facebook page:
“i guess i found in my lap one year into writing it a complete heartbreak album . kinda surprised how thoroughly i had documented this in pretty much accurate emotional chronology …. like 3 songs before a break up and three after . so the anthropologist in me sneaked in and i decided to share them as such . first i was worried it would be too self indulgent but then i felt it might make it even more universal . and hopefully the songs could be a help , a crutch to others and prove how biological this process is : the wound and the healing of the wound . psychologically and physically . it has a stubborn clock attached to it .
there is a way out
and then a magic thing happened to me : as i lost one thing something else entered . alejandro contacted me late summer 2013 and was interested in working with me . it was perfect timing . to make beats to the songs would have taken me 3 years ( like on vespertine ) but this enchanted arca would visit me repeatedly and only few months later we had a whole album !!! it is one of the most enjoyable collaboration i have had !
i then went ahead and wrote string and choir arrangements and recorded them in iceland
and whom else to lure into singing with me my worship-of-love-song “atom dance ” than my goddess of love : antony ?
towards the end of the album i started looking around for a mixing engineer and was introduced by a mutual friend of ours , robin carolan to the haxan cloak . he mixed the album and also made a beat for one half of “family” . together with chris elms the engineer we kinda formed a band during the mixing process and this is the album we made !!!
i do hope you enjoy it”
Several major outlets have already reviewed the album and noted it’s an emotional, moving work. The New York Times writes, “Even amid the most abstruse music, these songs have an emotional immediacy. The physicality of Björk’s voice and the strings are even more striking against the impersonal electronic sounds, all the better to reveal the interior landscape of heartbreak and healing — not a simple story, and all the better for it.”
NPR also published an in-depth review and expressed similar sentiments: “In the end, Vulnicura plays out its tragedy and pushes beyond its boundaries.”
Want more Björk?
This March, a truly unique MoMA exhibit will highlight Björk’s impressive 20+ year carreer. Click here to learn more about the installation. For a chance to see Björk perform some of her new songs live, check out the Governor’s Ball music festival in New York June 5-7, where Björk is a headliner! For more show information, check out this Facebook post where Björk announced her upcoming tour schedule.
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