Bjork - 2017 album

Volta is just perpetually sitting there, ready for re-evaluation

feeling strongly this is shaping up to be her best work since biophilia (though i may have the most skewed vision of the björk discography ever now that i'm reading that sentence back to myself)

I've liked all the new songs, each more than the last, and feel like each has clarified the previous ones a bit. Also the title track got instantly stuck in my head.

If nothing else, this seems like it'll be less impenetrable than the last album

feel like each has clarified the previous ones a bit

same, even Atopos which for the most part still feels almost like self parody.

there is something about the vocal delivery in all 3 tracks that i struggle to define, like intentional gaps between words, like it takes effort to push words out - and that works well for Ancestress but not for other tracks. it's almost like it makes listening a chore, and i donno, maybe that was the intent

yeah she's just doing a choppier version of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71hHly2AMeM

this isn't really my thing but it's better than i expected, all the dense dissonance actually kinda goes somewhere for once unlike a lot of post-vespertine bjork, & "ancestress" is lovely

a whole lot better than utopia at the very least

I’m also finding it better than expected. Works better without the videos and subtitles. And lots of sub-bass that I hadn’t heard on YouTube

One listen in and it still suffers somewhat from the melodic auto-Bjork tendencies, and the aversion to meter/excessive pausing in the lyrics/singing... But the production and conposition is more compelling and engaging than 'Volta,' 'Biophilia,' and 'Utopia' generally. Makes me want to listen again for sure, whereas 'Utopia' and 'Volta' in particular were always a slog.

Regardless, even when it's not my favorite work she's making, I love that Bjork stays so true to herself and what moves her.

Does it warrant its own thread?

probably yeah

I just listened to the whole thing. it's good, better than I remember her last 4-5 being, still frustrating in some specific ways

probably deserves a listen on good speakers with no distractions. clearly she puts a lot of thought into this. but I still just find myself wishing she would resolve things in a traditional major chord way like on, I dunno, "Isobel". just every once in a while.

Made a mix of some of her more minimalist tracks from 'Debut' through 'Fossora' and I have to say, I really enjoy hearing it as a suprisingly cohesive whole:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd6SmjXXEAIEeCp?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd6Snk3WIAE7vPF?format=jpg&name=large

Bjork
'Animanda' (1993-2022)

00:00 Moon
05:33 Submarine
08:30 Pneumonia
13:35 Headphones
18:57 Features Creatures
23:41 Sonnets / Unrealities XI
25:37 Solstice
30:06 Vísur Vatnsenda-Rósu
34:22 Black Lake
44:30 The Anchor Song
48:03 Cetacea
51:11 Vökuró
54:22 You’ve Been Flirting Again
56:50 Future Forever
61:30 Dark Matter
64:47 Harm of Will
69:22 Oxygen
73:12 Her Mother’s House
77:41 All Is Full of Love
81:40 Komið

('Animanda' is my attempt at Bjorkian word-creation. From Latin 'Anima,' and Icelandic 'Anda,' both meaning "breath"/"breathe" and "spirit"/"lifeforce" as best I can tell.)

only in a discography like bjork's would "black lake" be considered minimalist haha

this looks great tho, will check out for sure

I listened to the first few tracks and my take is that contra the "avant-garde v. pop" narrative that has crystallized around her post-Vespertine career, I think she's stuck in a rut rather than too way out there: so many of the vocal melodies and musical arrangements sound familiar from previous albums

This is a total bag of wank.

think we’ve progressed to the point where certain ppl on ilm just can’t hear a new bjork record

anyway this is great, my reductive first impression is it’s sort of the combo of medulla and biophilia of my dreams

only in a discography like bjork's would "black lake" be considered minimalist haha

To be fair, I used the 'Vulnicura: Strings' version heh

i know it was a pre-release track but i didn't hear it until today: "ancestress" is stunning

“victimhood” insane

yeah that one is mind-bending

Going to take a few listens to fully digest. "Fungal City" was my favorite on first run through.

Also thought the closer was the prettiest song she's released in a decade+

This is my favorite album of hers in many a year. I like how her voice just rides atop these discordant background musics, doing its thing. And that last track is indeed a heart-tugger.

i feel like i'm listening to a different album than you guys; can't get with this at all.

Yeah it really did nothing for me either. Tried twice but nothing resonated. Clunky lyrics too.

It's not as consistent as Vulnicura, but there were several tracks I liked ("Sorrowful Soil", "Ancestress", many in the second half). "Her Mother's House", the closer with her daughter (who sings quite well!), is maybe my favorite song she's put out since Vespertine

i played this through four times! I still barely remember it except not liking it! it's somehow teflon to me.

First listen really positive, even if vocal parts > instrumental parts.

I think I need to wait six months and try it after the shine of the new is gone. I can't connect with it either but I can also feel myself in "analytic mode" when it's on. Hard to simply let it play without expectation.

Maybe, but Uptopia is still basically impenetrable to me.

I’m positive my not caring for her stuff since the wet noodle of a Timbaland collab has helped me embrace this new one. I only decided to listen again when a passing review compared some of the songwriting to Vespertine, my favorite of hers. Well, Fossora’s not *quite* reaching those heights but it’s a beauty.

I know I've said it probably 100 times, but Biophilia really really grew on me to the point I think it's her best post-Vespertine LP.

Yeah this might be my favorite thing of hers since Medulla. I strongly dislike what she did with Arca. Don’t like how their styles blend at all - although they have been the most interesting eras she’s had for fashion and visuals.

I know I've said it probably 100 times, but Biophilia really really grew on me to the point I think it's her best post-Vespertine LP.

― Eric H., Friday, October 7, 2022 bookmarkflaglink

Yes Biophelia was unfairly shat on at the time. Underrated.

xp to moka, i have been a big fan of one of her more recent influences/designers, isshehungry: https://www.instagram.com/isshehungry/

Medúlla was the first Björk album I mostly didn't like. I'm OK with about half of it.
I wrote this about the new one on my radio playlist last week:

I had a lot of trouble with the initial singles for Björk's new album Fossora. I've been a fan of hers since before Debut was even released, but there have always been aspects of her art that I find difficult: the melodies that can be exquisite but can also prod and prod until my head aches; the weird phrasing that deliberately accents the wrong parts of words and stretches melodies over single syllables; harmonies that reach for atonality in awkward ways (from a composer capable of glorious harmonisation); rhythms that, especially on this gabber-inspired release, hammer even at slower tempos without remorse. Even "Ancestress", the song on the album most directly about her late mother, which many have been powerfully moved by, I find quite painful listening, its verse melody strained by repetition and portentous pauses, and the the chorus, even as it recalls the beautiful "Unison" from her masterpiece Vespertine, still exhibiting so many of those foibles (the incredibly awkward scansion!). Perhaps it's because it's very operatic, and (I'm sorry) I hate opera.
In any case, it's still Björk and there is still beauty and genius here. The bizarre fungal references are all over "Mycelia", a lovely vocal vignette with increasingly glitched voice samples, and there, at the end, is the sublime "Her Mother's House", once again referencing Björk's late mother Hildur while featuring her daughter Ísadóra (Dóa). Here the wind ensemble provides a bed instead of parping like a school band, and around Björk's own vocal lines Dóa and an oboe weave glittering scale patterns. Anyway, this is one guy's musical opinions and it's all aesthetics, so don't be offended if you love it all. You're absolutely right, even if I'm not wrong. And Björk is a treasure, forevermore.

I sequenced up the mix of more minimalist/understated tracks referenced above as a YouTube playlist, since I can't upload the mixed version I made to Mixcloud. Should still work reasonably well:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd6SmjXXEAIEeCp?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd6Snk3WIAE7vPF?format=jpg&name=large

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpQFmsMN6PqvJ6jEGv8jGEa_YRHtgRNr9

Still giving 'Fossora' time. Certainly more immediately accessible to me than 'Utopia,' at least.

Forks: yeah! Hungry’s work is brilliant.

wow album just gets better every time i go back to it

lol she's announced her first australia tour dates since the volta tour (but only playing perth) but she's not even touring the new album, she's bringing her cornucopia show from 2019? completely baffling

makes me feel better about not wanting to travel to see it because i have no interest in hearing her perform mostly just her worst album

^ did not realise until this post that I've seen every* headline show she has ever played in Sydney, so imo she should keep the streak going

*both

Lots of Bjork listening lately.

Mouth's Cradle is such a jam.

lol she's announced her first australia tour dates since the volta tour (but only playing perth) but she's not even touring the new album, she's bringing her cornucopia show from 2019? completely baffling

I think the Australia and Japan Cornucopia shows might be pre-COVID contractual obligations? Anyway, she said in a recent interview she would update the setlist and include stuff from Fossora, too (though I wouldn't count on anything more than "Allow").

Since 2015 her tours have been kind of overlapping anyway, I remember she was still playing Vulnicura shows when "The Gate" and "Blissing Me" were already out, and she's also obviously doing the Orkestral gigs (which don't feature material from Utopia or Fossora) here and there, as well as DJing.

the orkestral gigs are at least their own thing (that i'd be much sadder to miss)

& yeah good point that they're probably pre-covid arrangements that got delayed (since both western australia and japan were opened borders later than most). she almost certainly doesn't have a new show ready for fossora yet either (at least she's updating it) but it's just odd overall

utopia wasn't that long after vulnicura, relatively, so a few vulnicura shows happening while she was gearing up to release utopia wasn't that weird in comparison.

New album slowly inching it’s way to being one of my favorites of this year. Possibly her most moving album for me.

I finally was in the right headspace to listen to Fossora for the first time, and I'm much more in than I expected. Not a lot of pop hooks, but no one's expecting that from Bjork at this point, and I love the textures on the more calm tracks (Mycelia, Allow, and Her Mother's House for sure). 'Atopos' is probably my least favorite track, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Btw I made my own Soundslike-like 'Quiet Bjork' playlist if anyone wants -
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4kGcjsqUePEJ80w6hDK4uP?si=5813e34b33de4fa3

I cannot get over how starkly beautiful "Her Mother's House" is. Just a stunning arrangement -- how she interweaves the two vocal parts with the cor anglais, eventually uniting at the ~3:55 mark. Her discography has some gorgeous closers ("Unison," "All is Full of Love," "The Anchor Song," "Headphones") but this may be my favorite.

Bringing an acoustic/orchestral set to a huge open-air festival field filled with people waiting for Frank Ocean is gutsy but I'd say she pulled it off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whtd1wGfUoQ

Wow, was the whole set sans beats/drums?