Bjork - 2017 album

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

finally hearing this album. looooove it! "Arisen My Senses" is so nice and crunchy. really love this arrangement. the harp and detuned string samples over that glitching explosion. so sick! i like the skittering drums, i like drums that click like a ticking bike gear (Cornelius uses this trick a lot, the drum hit being delayed and that delay getting shorter and shorter exponentially, so that hits naturally yet mechanically become a drum roll).

i like "Utopia" a lot, it makes me think of gamelan music played with flutes. this really sounds like rainforest music, this album.

"Body Memory" this is some serious primal cave person sex music. it is like having sex on mushrooms. zooming into the atomic, cellular rhythms, the pulse of the universe, that god shaped hole.

So many lovely moments on 'Utopia'. . . but I don't know if moments sustain it for 70 minutes. I don't think anyone pining for Bjork "songs" is dismissing her more compositional, erudite, playful, non-pop tendencies. I think we just loved how wonderfully she married those tendencies to melodies and song-form where both aspects reinforced the others. For me, after the all-time perfect 10 top-5 records of 'Homogenic,' 'Medulla' is my second favorite--and it's an album dismissed as an experimental gimmick ("all vocals") but that was really her last great collection of songs and melodies.

She seems disinterested enough in melody (rather, just sort of Bjork-note phrasings) and song-form on this newest record that I almost just wish she'd make a full-on experimental, instrumental record along the lines of 'Drawing Restraint' but with her full talents behind it. It makes me sad that someone whose voice has moved me so over so many years, becomes just another piece in a rather busy but too-even mesh. I want to love it--but I agree with Fridgo above: I loved that mix she did instantly, but 'Utopia' I'm afraid will never grow into love for me.

She's still probably my single favorite living musician, so I'll follow her and give everything she does a chance.

This version of "Anchor Song," around 2:35, has literally given me goosebumps hundreds of times. . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgiI2gm-RIs

i love "Features Creatures" it sounds like Bjork playing a sampling keyboard while singing this awesome song and then clanging a bunch of chimes while messing w echo pedals and the whole time she can still sing amazingly <3 and is this a mellotron going on at the end w the minimalist fumbling note flurry? really lovely lofi playing there. this is so fun to listen to! <3

"Losss" is one of the best song titles ever.

the song is pretty cool too (Pink Floyd could have played this on "Ummagumma"). is this more mellotron in here? or real flutes?

really loved this album. it feels very healing. very warm. there is a lot of singing and vocals on here, maybe more than since "Medulla" the album that was nothing but vocals. but not just vocals, there are lots of flutes, lots of wind instruments. lots of breath and life. her voice is still really good and sounds as great as did it 25 years ago.

i don't pine for the pop songs of old, she has already done "Big Time Sensuality", she has already done "Hyperballad". that was decades ago. i really love just hearing her sing and play and layer her vocals and whatever sounds that she finds interesting and/or generates with her collaborators.

if i want to hear "Human Behavior" that song and MTV music video will always exist. the music video with the Ren and Stimpy guy will always exist. there is no need for her to try and recapture that pop audience because it is entirely differently from how things were in the 90s.

also it is probably the last thing in the world on her mind for her personally irt her career. i think she enjoys working w the various musicians and doing VR things and art stuff and that is what brings her happiness, not some gold record. thankfully even thought it is 2017 i can't picture Bjork doing American Idol or being featured on a Justin Beiber or Maroon 5 song (Lady Gaga and Bjork collab would probably be super fucking lit tho). she is still doing her thing and it's beautiful. her voice is still amazing and 100% can hit some high notes.

this was a wonderful record to live inside of. it was like being in a healing waterfall located in some laser jungle with holographic insects. it fits the album cover perfectly!

i love that bjork always represents her truth on every album. her concerns in life are obviously not the same as when she did her earlier pop hits, and this album really hits on her fears and hopes as a mother, reconciliation of longtime love lost and the joy of a new relationship. I love it as a flipside to Vulnicura.

great posts Adam btw

It's a dumb little thing but she does all her own arrangements these days and they are inspired

I really love the album, too. Initially I wasn't super impressed by "The Gate" - I like it in the context of the album, makes total sense now, but as a lead single it didn't pack enough oomph for me, I guess (even on her later-period albums the lead singles were pretty cachy e.g. "Earth Intruders" or "Crystalline", so I suppose I was expecting something like that?). "Arisen", "Body Memory" and "Loss" are currently my favourites.

Her flute arrangements are fantastic and really showcase her growth as a composer/arranger over the year. fgti is right, she's been doing her own arrangements totally on her own starting with Medúlla - choirs, strings, brass, now woodwinds. I'm pretty sure last time she had outside help was Vince Mendoza orchestrating some stuff on Vespertine

BTW "Features Creatures" is her singing over Sarah Hopkins' track that she found on some compilation of musicians who create their own instruments.

Joining the 'pro' lobby for this LP. And puzzled by the "where are the songs?" complaints when "Saint" exists.

i love the arrangements here! this is a very warm record, lots of acoustic sounds, flutes, layrered vocals. still the cool crunchy industrial electronic beats and stuff. she has always loved the industrial esp. "Army of Me" and of course her NIN tattoo.

i really think that breath or wind is a strong element for thing record (Bjork of The Wild). it feels really alive because of that. also it makes me want to go to Iceland so bad and see the lush volcanic super active natural beauty of it all. very refreshing!

Tried a handful of times to listen to this since it came out and kept getting distracted/bored. Today for the first time I played it all the way through. I begrudge Bjork absolutely nothing, but I'm just not stimulated by this one. Not feeling any desire to try it again.

kind of agree w/others that i think that her voice is always so compelling and she has a great ear for sounds and arrangements but doesn't feel like there's a lot "there" underneath it in terms of songs

Still pretty good! But six tracks does me just fine.

I haven't listened to this yet but I wonder if the comments about there not being any songs there are tied to her increased tendency to write songs that have overaching structure in terms of verse/chorus/what have you but melodically wander all over the place within those sections. This has been a hallmark of her style since the beginning but it's felt to me that it's become even more pronounced over the past (looks up Medulla's release date) 13 years; it's certainly what kept me from getting into Biophilia for a very long time.