Bjork - 2017 album

welp I should definitely not have loaded this thread at work

Björk’s New Album Is a Love Letter to Optimism

New single, "Blissing Me":

https://open.spotify.com/track/18pZmxEPXqJgEa67WQpGRz

Surprisingly simple and kind of catchy, very tender vocal delivery, pretty much just a harp and a kick, slightly similar vibes to the more stripped-down stuff from Vespertine and the Drawing Restraint 9 soundtrack. Probably also echoes of "Batabid" and "Virus". Very different to "The Gate", I like it.

I far prefer this!

really love this song! sounds like being an a sea voyage or something. the percussion makes me think of a creaky ship

Yes, more harp please!

Gorgeous song. Really looking forward to this album now.

Happy to have the skepticism that I felt following the release of the first track melt away.

Yes this is gorgeous.

So this album really is something, huh? Quite overwhelming after two first listens. For sure her longest, but perhaps also weirdest and least immediate yet? Medúlla and Biophilia seem now like merely a prelude to her idiosyncracies blossoming in full on Utopia.

The woodwind arrangements are gorgeous; she's really developed as a composer and arranger over the years. Perhaps that's how the record should be seen? As a non-narrative piece of modern classical / folk / electronic fusion, rather than an album in the singer-songwriter sense?

Petridis isn't wholly convinced

I don’t like it much. She needs to stop hanging around with Arca, his style is very bloated and every song in here is just nothing. Cool arrangements here and there but where are the actual songs? I struggle to remember any of them.

"Actual songs" hasn't really been her thing since, what, Vespertine? There's still been a lot of memorable music since then.

"Actual songs" hasn't really been her thing since, what, Vespertine?

Rong.

Vespertine, Medulla, Volta and even Biophilia were based around her and some actual compositions. It seems to me like Vulnicura and this one are more based around the arrangements... don’t know how else to explain it. Like if Arca shows up with some cool sounds and arrangements and just says ‘now sing on top of this’.

I do like it more than Vulnicura but that’s not saying much.

Vulnicura had some of her strongest songs in years (especially Stonemilker, Lionsong and Black Lake) and if anything the string arrangements were based around the vocal lines rather than vice-versa. And Bjork did most of the production on that record IIRC, Arca got involved relatively late in the day.

I actually shouldn’t voice my opinion on neither as I just can’t get into them and haven’t listened more than a couple of times. There’s not much pulling me in, sorry.

Stonemilker was her best song since Vespertine

I agree.

Hope you can find your way in Moka. If not then it's not for you, but it's a joy in there.

I promise to give both another chance in a couple of weeks.

the gate sounded like bjork TM
blissing me is great tho!

moka, i hear you with the anti-arca stuff and where that overwhelms her, I agree. But Stonemilker, Lionsong and Black Lake are still totally worth the trouble, signed a guy who was very angry at her MoMA show.

Every album after Vespertine has a few song-songs on it -- Medulla has "Triumph of the Heart," Biophilia has "Virus" -- but they're always in the minority. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, by any stretch. The only truly disappointing album in her entire catalogue to me is Volta, for its at least implicit regressiveness. And even that has "Wanderlust" and "Declare Independence."

I want to say that I can see Moka's difficulty with it. More so than Vulnicura, this album does feel like a somewhat 'meandering' record; the songs flow in and out of each-other. I've no idea of individual tracks on this one, most of the time, and just let it play (and repeat and repeat). It is no Homogenic, so to speak. But if you accept that, there are so many great phases and so many moments of beauty on here.

the first half of 'the gate' is kinda astonishing

It seems difficult / pointless to me to divide her career into songs and not-so-songs and non-songs. And I'd say that Vespertine was already resolutely turned towards the trajectory she's been following (how many songs do you count there ?). And if I'm told "songs", I think of different ones for her latest albums.
On Medulla: Vokuro, Who is it, Desired Constellation, Oceania, Mouth's cradle, Triumph too. (and if I was provocative, I'd add Ancestors)
On Volta: Earth Intruders, all from Innocence to Hope (hardly care for Declare)
On Biophilia: Crystalline, Moon and Solstice, Mutual Core I guess (only one of her albums I like distinctly less)
On Vulnicura: Stone Milket, Lionsong, Not get, Atom Dance
I think it shows there's no decisive way to conclude what has the right to count as a proper Björk song.
Can't wait to hear the new album. I just have to figure out where it was sent.

I'd say that Vespertine was already resolutely turned towards the trajectory she's been following (how many songs do you count there ?)

Excepting "Frosti" and maybe "Harm of Will" ... all of them.

Alright. What I meant is that I already hear something abstract and free-flowing in Vespertine, which already slows things down and leaves the beats behind. Later Björk just began experimenting with other instruments: choirs / beatboxing, brass, strings, now wind instruments. I'm always surprised to see each time so many people suggest she should restrict herself, maybe it's the same people than in 2004, maybe it's the same people for all artists :) Well, Vulnicura was well-received, but I'm not sure it was for the right reasons. I don't know, maybe I'm paranoid, but I feel it's crazy that Björk has stayed divisive as she has matured.

I have an opinion of course

I've thought a lot about "Bjork as a songwriter" vs. "Bjork as a composer"

I myself believe that with Vespertine-and-onward she sought to get away from the "pop song" format entirely, and work at carving out a music-language that was unique and unattached to the influence of her previous collaborators.

On her albums from Vespertine-and-onward, there are excellent "normal-ass pop songs ("Cocoon", "Triumph Of A Heart", "Who Is It") but they become fewer and fewer and weaker and weaker. By "Volta" and "Biophilia" all the poppy songs are kind of crap? "Earth Intruders"? "Cosmogony"?

On her albums from Vespertine-and-onward, however, her more abstract arty things start to shine more and more. The art-song afterthought of "You've Been Flirting Again" becomes a feature in "An Echo, A Stain", and by the time "Biophilia" comes around, the entire album is just artsy-fartsy gorgeousness.

My point is: I too miss Bjork-of-the-90s. I was frustrated with her transitional phase through the 00s. But with Biophilia and Vulnicura I feel like we're seeing a triumph of this gestative process-- I think of her work now as being in the same vein as Dagmar Kraus and Scott Walker, and try not to let my "Isobel"-hangover continue to inhibit my appreciation for the musiclanguage she's developed and recently perfected.

Haven't heard this new one yet though

When I say "normal ass pop songs" I hope one realizes I'm not talking about the production but rather the content of the melody/chords/lyrics. "Who Is It" might be a crazy production but I could still render it on piano in a cocktail-lounge format. "Dark Matter" not so much

I agree

I am listening to bjork's new album utopia right now, it is quality bjork music

There was some interview, can't remember if it was with Arca or Bjork, where it came up that Arca really loves the Drawing Restraint 9 tracks like 'Ambergris March' and was encouraging her to explore that sound more. You can really hear that on some of the new tracks.

FGTI, completely agree. The Kraus/Walker stage of career is a good metaphor.

"Who Is It" might be a crazy production but I could still render it on piano in a cocktail-lounge format.

Ok this obviously needs to happen.

Would pay $14.99USD to hear an album of fgti's piano lounge bjork covers

omg, just digging in but the first thing she did was sample one of my all time favorite crazy ass bird calls... the Montezuma Oropendola!
http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/127299

I will tell you that there was one drunken night five years ago that P4trick W0lf commandeered a piano at a nearly-empty gay bar and did some excellent Bjork renditions and changed the lyrics to include content about eating clouds and wanting to work with Dirty Projectors

But that feels like a lifetime ago

By "Volta" and "Biophilia" all the poppy songs are kind of crap? "Earth Intruders"? "Cosmogony"?

I wouldn't maybe go that far. I hear "Wanderlust" and "Virus" and "Stonemilker" as all conversant with her pop side. That said, I'm noticing now that they're all dirges. So maybe it's the slow jam side she's still able to suss successfully to my ears.

My point is: I too miss Bjork-of-the-90s. I was frustrated with her transitional phase through the 00s. But with Biophilia and Vulnicura I feel like we're seeing a triumph of this gestative process

I'm never not grateful that she continues doing what she wants and needs to do. Among my favorite artists, none of them have made fewer compromises, I trust.

Would pay $14.99USD to hear an album of fgti's piano lounge bjork covers

Double that.

I too haven't listened to the new one yet. I might hit up Electric Fetus tonight.

huh
http://www.vulture.com/2017/11/bjrk-says-her-lost-wu-tang-clan-collaboration-was-magic.html

arrangements/production on this album really scratch a sonic itch for me. Possibly it's banal to say at this point that her newer work has call-backs to earlier material, but the DNA of Vespertine is strong on this one, one example being the choir which is reminiscent of "Undo" on "Saint". Early impresions but love the scuttled percussive hits that coalesce into a legit banger on "Losss".

https://www.mixesdb.com/w/2017-11-16_-_Bj%C3%B6rk_-_Mixmag_Cover_Mix

more excited for a mix than a new album :(

Tabula Rasa is a beautiful track. Lyrical themes of not wanting to pass baggage on to your children and undoing the fuck ups - A+

given this about six spins and i think i'm not into it. feels like a nice gelatinous mass of bjorkishness without much in the way of definition. Would be perfectly happy to have it on in the background but not really excited about playing it anymore.

"gate" is kate bush level

Still digesting this but I don't think releasing 'The Gate' as a single was a great choice, it's sort of grating in its repetition of those vocal lines. The last few tracks on the record are gorgeous. I like the recurring bird call samples too.

ha xp

i was going to argue that 'the gate' is a brilliant song but agree that it's a terrible choice for a single.

but...what is a "single" these days, to someone like Bjork, for an album like this? is the goal to actually get on the radio and get a fluke #1 hit (so in that case, you'd want a single that's really catchy)? maybe it wouldn't be a fluke hit? i have no idea if new bjork songs chart anywhere around the world these days.

is it to kind of serve as a showcase piece for the album to people who are interested enough to maybe check out a single song posted on a website/blog somewhere before making the commitment of hitting the play button on spotify for the entire album?

or is a Bjork single, for an album like this that is more of a singular flowing piece than a collection of hits, aimed more at the committed fan, as a representation of the spirit of the rest of the album? it's only this case that supports "the gate" as a single, at least if you like it (it gives me the chills!), because it's a total failure if it's aimed at radio airplay or even a casual fan. the second minute, where it gets really quiet and those eerie synth-brass-bird lines rain down, along with the feedback, and "my healed chest wound/transformed into a gate"... is beautiful but ultimately not attention-grabbing for the music fan furiously clicking around tabs looking for a fix.

i'm just kind of rambling, sorry. i guess i'm just trying to say i don't even understand the purpose of ANY single for an artist like this (already well established with a huge fanbase) and an album like this (not singles-oriented). i get that the record company has to have something to push, along with a video.

AFAICT, she hasn't had a top 10 hit anywhere in the world since Homogenic.

is it to kind of serve as a showcase piece for the album to people who are interested enough to maybe check out a single song posted on a website/blog somewhere before making the commitment of hitting the play button on spotify for the entire album?

This is exactly the sense that I meant, admittedly because I played it at home before the album came out and got a 'can we turn this off?' from my partner, but when I later played the album starting with track #4 it was more like 'this is much better than whatever you played last weekend'.

I think *for Björk* the 'single' is indeed a showcase. Not just for the album, but for her new look, presence, the story she wants to tell, what she wants to convey. She's perfected doing this throughout the years (whether you're a fan or not).

Her singles dvd (needs updating) shows a magnificent evolution in how her approach of "the single" and "the video" changed. And of course she was ahead of the pack. I'd argue the death of music television as we knew it (mtv playing music videos) liberated her. No longer you "had" to have a video (because you "had" to have a single). Rather, a "single" doesn't have to be the song execs think has the biggest hit potential, but rather it can be a showcase, or a presentation, or a fashion statement, or a statement of intent, or everything rolled into one.

For this I think 'The Gate', both the "single" and video, is a beautiful thing.

Yet I deal with the same sort of partner Jordan deals with :) Still trying to decide which track on the new one is best to trick her into saying "this is much better". Perhaps I will try 4 the next time.

i like this album but as with any Bjork album since Volta, I play it a few times and will inevitably never put it on again