Saturday, March 13, 2021

Day 0924 - Vespertine

Björk “Vespertine” (2001)


By this stage, Björk is pretty much just her own genre.   She was working on the film “Dancer in the Dark” with director Lars von Trier.  She both starred in the film and wrote the soundtrack.   The experience of working with von Trier was not an enjoyable one for Björk, and she poured this negative energy and the excitement of her new romantic relationship into her writing for 'Vespertine'.   

Björk moved from the musical eclecticism of her first couple of releases and the big beats of her third album to a more fragile, ambient textures.  She collaborated with electronic artists, recorded her own beats using things around the house, and started getting into laptop production software.

The subtle but interesting beats underpin wide open musical spaces that can be populated with anything from a music box, to strings, to radio static to a full choir.  The album feels a lot more intimate than some of Björk's previous work.  She stated for some of the music that it was like she was building a cocoon around herself.

She seems to opt more for intimate quiet vocals too, though her raw belting vocal is brought out for the "You make me want to hurt myself" refrain of single "Pagan Poetry".

Björk's next album "Medulla" would take the DIY/found sounds approach a step further, being built entirely from vocal performances.

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