Bjork - 2017 album

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?

Yes, just a string orchestra

Bold move indeed!

i love her so much

Daring! The strings-only version of "Pluto" is great

Noted that the conductor is free of headphones, this was all live live no click no tricks. Impressive. I find my ears and heart wanting to hear "a full orchestra" in this context but wonder if the rigidity of it being strings-only is what makes it so powerful

That is wonderful - thanks for posting

Supposedly Frank actually requested Bjork to be on the bill (and "open" for him)

would pay stupid money for a bjönk oceansdottir concert

There’s a million Björk threads

is this what you call sharing ? pic.twitter.com/A2ewPgmiK4

— björk (@bjork) November 3, 2023

lol @ the Israel War Room quote-tweeting her, what a bunch of freaks

ngl I like this more than her past few albums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jsi2Tgvx6A

(probably bc the song was apparently written 25 years ago?)

yeah this is the best thing she's done in forever

apparently it was 'too poppy' for vespertine and then she just forgot what it was called so she couldn't find the demo in her archives until she remembered this year

it's so odd to hear rosalia on this, someone else singing such an unmistakably bjork melody alongside her. not at all bad though!

Forever, or since Vulnicura maybe is good enough

But at this point, yes, I'll take a good dose of Bjork revisiting some vault items from circa late '90s/early '00s

"stonemilker" is the only real exception there. or "who is it" too if i were to more specifically say 'since vespertine'

oh wow her vocal is from the original pre-vespertine recording too. it sounds like the main thing that was newly recorded is the drums? (and rosalia's vocal of course)

love this so much. video is great too wow

Flutes and violin arrangements are probably new too - at least they sound more like Vulnicura/Utopia influenced arrangements than Homogenic.

Love this and the video

I’m a massive fan of Björk’s last three albums (and after finally seeing her live Cornucopia show last week I’m even more in love with her latter-day output than I thought I could be) but it’s so cool to hear this unearthed recording of her younger voice and more poppy/accessible style. I find it so nostalgic, brings me back to my teenage years.

Also weird to hear Rosalía sing in English lol! But I love it.

She also sings in english in single “LLYLM” released earlier this year.

Feel nostalgic and slightly sad hearing this great song, like a glimpse of a potential Bjork that pushed on in the direction of Vespertine. I do really like and admire some of the places she's gone over the years but never loved them like I loved Homogenic and Vespertine