You're Not Just Imagining Things
January 21, 2015 12:18 PM Subscribe
Pitchfork interviews Björk about the inspiration for and methods behind her newest album. Awesomeness ensues.
I was just about to post the same paragraph. I'm definitely going to have to listen to this. I don't typically love Bjork all that much.
posted by OmieWise at 12:32 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by OmieWise at 12:32 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
What a great interview, she is such a fantastic artist. I'm looking forward to diving into her new album, but am not looking forward to how tough it will likely be, given the descriptions.
posted by LooseFilter at 12:34 PM on January 21, 2015
posted by LooseFilter at 12:34 PM on January 21, 2015
I love this interview so much! I wanted to post it but the writer, Jessica Hopper, is technically one of my editors I guess and that means nope. Glad to see it got posted.
posted by Juliet Banana at 12:41 PM on January 21, 2015
posted by Juliet Banana at 12:41 PM on January 21, 2015
Great interview, and after being a bit worried about where she was going since Volta, listening to this record last night was overwhelming. An amazing piece of work, but one that is absolutely full of sorrow; total naked heartbreak keeps returning. An exceptional record, but I was left with the initial impression that it's probably not one I'll listen to more than a few times ever. Someone in despair because their family has been destroyed is hard to hum along to in the car.
posted by robself at 12:41 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by robself at 12:41 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I actively disliked Medulla and didn't get into Biophilia. I'll give the new one a chance... but maybe when I'm feeling more emotionally stable myself.
posted by Foosnark at 12:50 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Foosnark at 12:50 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
my god this interview is fantastic.
Women are the glue. It’s invisible, what women do. It’s not rewarded as much.
posted by nadawi at 12:56 PM on January 21, 2015 [17 favorites]
Women are the glue. It’s invisible, what women do. It’s not rewarded as much.
posted by nadawi at 12:56 PM on January 21, 2015 [17 favorites]
She refers to Joni Mitchell's The Jungle Line which is an amazing song I'd not heard before and sounds so much like Bjork warped back in time.
posted by kokaku at 12:59 PM on January 21, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by kokaku at 12:59 PM on January 21, 2015 [10 favorites]
Oh wow, that was a great interview. I'm interested to see how much more is in the "extended edition."
I'm impressed in part because even though I'm a serious fan of Bjork, I also pigeon-holed her as "kooky, eccentric music-maker," and she came across so ... normal in this interview.
I am now looking forward to a couple rather long drives as a chance to listen to her back catalog and build up to this, because it's been way too long since I've listened to her albums as entire works.
Regarding dark, painful songs and listening in the car, I'm a different sort it seems, because I find Dull Flame of Desire aching and beautiful, and I do sing along. Sad music makes me happy; I find joy in sharing sorrow.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:05 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm impressed in part because even though I'm a serious fan of Bjork, I also pigeon-holed her as "kooky, eccentric music-maker," and she came across so ... normal in this interview.
I am now looking forward to a couple rather long drives as a chance to listen to her back catalog and build up to this, because it's been way too long since I've listened to her albums as entire works.
Regarding dark, painful songs and listening in the car, I'm a different sort it seems, because I find Dull Flame of Desire aching and beautiful, and I do sing along. Sad music makes me happy; I find joy in sharing sorrow.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:05 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I love Bjork. I have always loved Bjork. I love Bjork's music. I love this interview. I can't wait to hear the album. That is all.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:10 PM on January 21, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:10 PM on January 21, 2015 [11 favorites]
this thing seriously has me tearing up.
posted by nadawi at 1:12 PM on January 21, 2015 [38 favorites]
I want to support young girls who are in their 20s now and tell them: You’re not just imagining things. It’s tough. Everything that a guy says once, you have to say five times. [...] After being the only girl in bands for 10 years, I learned—the hard way—that if I was going to get my ideas through, I was going to have to pretend that they—men—had the ideas. I became really good at this and I don’t even notice it myself.you're not imagining things. it's so important to say - this is real, this happens to all of us, you aren't deficient in some way.
posted by nadawi at 1:12 PM on January 21, 2015 [38 favorites]
I'm glad I listened to the almbum last night before taking in impressions like this from interviews and press. The album has an impressive, apparent arc, but even so the entire thing comes across quite sad--interestingly sad, like Beck's 'Sea Change.' This interview clears up themotivations, for sure, but I hope people will listen to the album (Foosnark, I haven't liked too much since 'Vespertine,' but this one will be worth your time.)
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:12 PM on January 21, 2015
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:12 PM on January 21, 2015
Excellent interview. Thanks for posting it. Can't wait to hear the album and see her show at MoMA this spring.
posted by the sobsister at 1:20 PM on January 21, 2015
posted by the sobsister at 1:20 PM on January 21, 2015
It's kind of astonishing that even Bjork has to deal with the BS of getting her work recognized as her own and having to work 5 times harder because she's a woman.
posted by TwoWordReview at 1:35 PM on January 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by TwoWordReview at 1:35 PM on January 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
Bjork is one of those famous people who I have loved as an artist for 20 years now, but that I don't really know anything about beyond her music and that she's from Iceland. It's so satisfying to read something like this. (I mean depressing in some ways, but satisfying to hear her say what she's saying.)
Is there audio of the interview posted somewhere?
Indeed, because:
For example, I asked Matmos to play all the beats for the Vespertine tour, so maybe that’s kind of understandable that people think they made them. So maybe it’s not all sexist evil. [laughs] But it’s an ongoing battle.
I'm desperate to her laugh at this point.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:55 PM on January 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Is there audio of the interview posted somewhere?
Indeed, because:
For example, I asked Matmos to play all the beats for the Vespertine tour, so maybe that’s kind of understandable that people think they made them. So maybe it’s not all sexist evil. [laughs] But it’s an ongoing battle.
I'm desperate to her laugh at this point.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:55 PM on January 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
I, too, love that "Everything that a guy says once, you have to say five times," line. I always knew that but I never had read anyone put it so concisely.
It's been a long battle for me to know my opinions matter and it's OK to be loud and forceful and sometimes fight back for what I think is right. I wish I had been 23 and had been able to read Bjork saying that to me. I would've printed it out and put it on my wall where I could always see it. Maybe it wouldn't have taken me so long to learn it.
posted by darksong at 2:07 PM on January 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's been a long battle for me to know my opinions matter and it's OK to be loud and forceful and sometimes fight back for what I think is right. I wish I had been 23 and had been able to read Bjork saying that to me. I would've printed it out and put it on my wall where I could always see it. Maybe it wouldn't have taken me so long to learn it.
posted by darksong at 2:07 PM on January 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm hardly her biggest fan. But musically, Bjork is The Real Deal. Vast respect.
posted by doctor tough love at 2:52 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by doctor tough love at 2:52 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's kind of astonishing that even Bjork has to deal with the BS of getting her work recognized as her own
Seriously. Guilty over here. I'm actually kind of surprised to hear that she's been behind all those beats. I'm only really familiar with Debut and Post, but frankly so much of the backing music on those albums sounded so much like Nellee Hooper songs, and the songs with Tricky sounded so much like Tricky songs, that I just sort of took it for granted she was singing over others' production. Not that it ever changed my opinion of Bjork as an artist, I mean she's super interesting and unique in her vocals alone, and that's what a lot of rappers and r'n'b singers do all the time, but I guess it's just not the case for Bjork and I kinda feel bad for assuming otherwise all this time.
I also think that the Kanye example is a bit off base, and I'm not a guy that sticks up for him often. Kanye came up as a producer making beats for other rappers. He did his own solo stuff later, and largely produced his own beats to rap on. So when a Kanye album came along where it's all a bunch of other people making the beats I can sorta see why people just assumed it was him.
posted by Hoopo at 3:15 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seriously. Guilty over here. I'm actually kind of surprised to hear that she's been behind all those beats. I'm only really familiar with Debut and Post, but frankly so much of the backing music on those albums sounded so much like Nellee Hooper songs, and the songs with Tricky sounded so much like Tricky songs, that I just sort of took it for granted she was singing over others' production. Not that it ever changed my opinion of Bjork as an artist, I mean she's super interesting and unique in her vocals alone, and that's what a lot of rappers and r'n'b singers do all the time, but I guess it's just not the case for Bjork and I kinda feel bad for assuming otherwise all this time.
I also think that the Kanye example is a bit off base, and I'm not a guy that sticks up for him often. Kanye came up as a producer making beats for other rappers. He did his own solo stuff later, and largely produced his own beats to rap on. So when a Kanye album came along where it's all a bunch of other people making the beats I can sorta see why people just assumed it was him.
posted by Hoopo at 3:15 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I kind of want to puke when I think back to my (seriously) misspent youth and how much time and energy went to accommodating others in the name of collaboration that usually went in one direction, instead of developing and pushing my own stuff. I'm not blaming them; I could have done things on my own, and there's no question I lacked the grit, ambition, and probably the ideas to make, and more importantly to finish something good (or even semi-not bad); had I been more focused and determined, things might have been different. I definitely was looking outwards to find support in helping things get realized, and that was a mistake.
I thought I was a reasonably good team player, and I was happy to do things for others. But getting people interested in working on my things felt like swimming upstream, except for on a few occasions, with a few people. (Again, it could easily have been that my "things" just weren't that great.) I remember that when I did manage to get interest, things went very very wrong when I had a clear idea of what I wanted to hear. I guess no one wants to be told, "play this, like this"; everything's supposed to be democratic, etc., but there didn't seem to be as much resistance to those kind of requests from male collaborators. Maybe (probably) I lacked sufficient charisma, or other interpersonal skills that might have made things smoother. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong. But I'm saddened, and a little sickened, to hear that Bjork had - has!!! - to play nice to get things to happen. Jesus.
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:25 PM on January 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I thought I was a reasonably good team player, and I was happy to do things for others. But getting people interested in working on my things felt like swimming upstream, except for on a few occasions, with a few people. (Again, it could easily have been that my "things" just weren't that great.) I remember that when I did manage to get interest, things went very very wrong when I had a clear idea of what I wanted to hear. I guess no one wants to be told, "play this, like this"; everything's supposed to be democratic, etc., but there didn't seem to be as much resistance to those kind of requests from male collaborators. Maybe (probably) I lacked sufficient charisma, or other interpersonal skills that might have made things smoother. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong. But I'm saddened, and a little sickened, to hear that Bjork had - has!!! - to play nice to get things to happen. Jesus.
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:25 PM on January 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hah, a friend and I were talking a year or two ago about how much "The Jungle Line" made it sound like Joni Mitchell invented Bjork, and here she calls it out as one of her favorites. Very gratifying!
posted by anazgnos at 3:36 PM on January 21, 2015
posted by anazgnos at 3:36 PM on January 21, 2015
I'm only really familiar with Debut and Post, but frankly so much of the backing music on those albums sounded so much like Nellee Hooper songs, and the songs with Tricky sounded so much like Tricky songs, that I just sort of took it for granted she was singing over others' production.
The thing is, with Debut & Post I do think the perception that her collaborators were driving the beats and production while she was more just on the singing end was not totally inaccurate. This authorship question with Bjork goes back a long way and I think it's shaped by the perception of those particular albums. That said, I think she's been much more deeply involved for a long time at this point, and her protestations are totally valid.
posted by anazgnos at 3:42 PM on January 21, 2015
The thing is, with Debut & Post I do think the perception that her collaborators were driving the beats and production while she was more just on the singing end was not totally inaccurate. This authorship question with Bjork goes back a long way and I think it's shaped by the perception of those particular albums. That said, I think she's been much more deeply involved for a long time at this point, and her protestations are totally valid.
posted by anazgnos at 3:42 PM on January 21, 2015
Such a powerful and important interview. Grimes has talked about this too - how people just tend to assume that female artists (especially in anything remotely electronic/computerized) constantly face the assumption that a man really did it for her; she's just the singer (or singer and lyricist). I wish Bjork really would release those detailed 'maps' of her previous albums, saying exactly who did what - both to help shut down those assumptions, and because it'd offer great insight and trivia regarding the albums for her fans.
And this new album . . . it feels like a career landmark. Probably the most important thing she's released in more than a decade. It's a little bit like the photonegative of Vespertine. Similar yet also completely opposite. Also, superficially it's reminiscent of Homogenic, because of the combination of strings and beats (Homogenic no longer has the title 'best strings on a Bjork album'). But in some ways it feels dishonest to even make these comparisons, as Vulnicura is in some ways so . . . unlike any album she's done before. And it's not just because joyous Bjork is all of a sudden broken down, desolate, full of pain and betrayal and hurt. It's because the songs themselves are grand, evolving, multi-chambered structures, on a level of complexity and maturity that none of her prior albums have matched, with these long melodic vocal lines Bjork lately prefers wandering through them, perfectly at home.
I hope Bjork's feeling happier and more balanced now, or is moving towards that . . .
posted by erlking at 3:48 PM on January 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
And this new album . . . it feels like a career landmark. Probably the most important thing she's released in more than a decade. It's a little bit like the photonegative of Vespertine. Similar yet also completely opposite. Also, superficially it's reminiscent of Homogenic, because of the combination of strings and beats (Homogenic no longer has the title 'best strings on a Bjork album'). But in some ways it feels dishonest to even make these comparisons, as Vulnicura is in some ways so . . . unlike any album she's done before. And it's not just because joyous Bjork is all of a sudden broken down, desolate, full of pain and betrayal and hurt. It's because the songs themselves are grand, evolving, multi-chambered structures, on a level of complexity and maturity that none of her prior albums have matched, with these long melodic vocal lines Bjork lately prefers wandering through them, perfectly at home.
I hope Bjork's feeling happier and more balanced now, or is moving towards that . . .
posted by erlking at 3:48 PM on January 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
The whole interview is fantastic but that five times line was perfect. Really looking forward to listening to the album, as many of us are, when it is not sad (and SAD here where I live).
posted by immlass at 3:57 PM on January 21, 2015
posted by immlass at 3:57 PM on January 21, 2015
I can't wait to listen to this album which I'm pretty sure is going to stab me in the guts repeatedly.
posted by the bricabrac man at 4:40 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by the bricabrac man at 4:40 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm impressed in part because even though I'm a serious fan of Bjork, I also pigeon-holed her as "kooky, eccentric music-maker," and she came across so ... normal in this interview.
This would describe my exact sentiments maybe a few years ago, before I stopped paying attention to her. But yeah, I fell into the Saturday Night Life "I stick my head in the oven and it sounds like muuuuuuusic" trap as well. To be honest, I'm not sure Medulla or Biophilia helped; those albums seemed to have Artist Statements attached to them that basically flew so far over my head that I just assumed she'd inherited a different orbit to the ones I'd been used to. Strangely, I chalked at least some of that up to her relationship with Matthew Barney; in light of the new album and this interview I don't know if that was just horribly unfair of me or what.
I miss the Bjork I loved when Post and Homogenic were two of my favourite albums of all time, and have only seen fleeting instances of since. I don't know if Vulnicura is the album that brings that Bjork back, but the idea that Bjork might once again be an artist whose songs I can relate to again is enough. And I hope it would help her to know that I never thought she was anything but an artist with a singular vision, as opposed to a mouthpiece for various svengali producers. Nellee Hooper, Mark Bell, Matmos, they always seemed like collaborators that happened to enter Bjork's orbit. It always seemed clear to me that she was running the show, and after Vespertine (an album I didn't even like very much but seems so much her personal statement) it's hard for me to see why anyone would even think differently.
posted by chrominance at 7:14 PM on January 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
This would describe my exact sentiments maybe a few years ago, before I stopped paying attention to her. But yeah, I fell into the Saturday Night Life "I stick my head in the oven and it sounds like muuuuuuusic" trap as well. To be honest, I'm not sure Medulla or Biophilia helped; those albums seemed to have Artist Statements attached to them that basically flew so far over my head that I just assumed she'd inherited a different orbit to the ones I'd been used to. Strangely, I chalked at least some of that up to her relationship with Matthew Barney; in light of the new album and this interview I don't know if that was just horribly unfair of me or what.
I miss the Bjork I loved when Post and Homogenic were two of my favourite albums of all time, and have only seen fleeting instances of since. I don't know if Vulnicura is the album that brings that Bjork back, but the idea that Bjork might once again be an artist whose songs I can relate to again is enough. And I hope it would help her to know that I never thought she was anything but an artist with a singular vision, as opposed to a mouthpiece for various svengali producers. Nellee Hooper, Mark Bell, Matmos, they always seemed like collaborators that happened to enter Bjork's orbit. It always seemed clear to me that she was running the show, and after Vespertine (an album I didn't even like very much but seems so much her personal statement) it's hard for me to see why anyone would even think differently.
posted by chrominance at 7:14 PM on January 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Lyrics have been posted on various websites, if you want to dig into the poetry and sentiments without the musical accompaniment.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:02 PM on January 22, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 1:02 PM on January 22, 2015
As for the music, it sounds like a somber extension of her more recent works -- vocal doubling, lots of strings mixed with periodically chaotic electronics. The one weird thing that sticks in my ear are the rolling 'R's, which I didn't pick up from prior albums. But in listening to the album after reading Bjork's comments about Arca referencing portions of her past tracks in discussing new tracks, I can really hear those references coming up. In making the album sound like an extension of prior work instead of a whole new experiment, it's easier to focus on the lyrics, which might be the intention.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:08 PM on January 22, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 1:08 PM on January 22, 2015
Family was always our sacred mutual mission
Which you abandoned
damn
posted by Juliet Banana at 1:20 PM on January 22, 2015
Which you abandoned
damn
posted by Juliet Banana at 1:20 PM on January 22, 2015
1. It is fucked up that anyone, let alone several someones in relative positions of influence, would rob Björk of her authorship because she works with well known musicians.
2. Kanye's authorship and musicianship is frequently questioned by awful guitar dudes who don't think anyone who's ever used a sample has ever built a song from scratch but I can't think of a better example myself
posted by elr at 4:34 PM on January 22, 2015
2. Kanye's authorship and musicianship is frequently questioned by awful guitar dudes who don't think anyone who's ever used a sample has ever built a song from scratch but I can't think of a better example myself
posted by elr at 4:34 PM on January 22, 2015
Ok, I am hugely looking forward to this, as well as being saddened by the album impetus. Bjork was a big part of my late teens and early 20s and her raw, honest, optimistic lyrics were a big help through that angsty and unsure time in my life.
She's obviously incredibly emotionally strong and smart as well as being a musical genius, and this album will likely help a lot of people in similar situations.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:21 PM on January 22, 2015
She's obviously incredibly emotionally strong and smart as well as being a musical genius, and this album will likely help a lot of people in similar situations.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:21 PM on January 22, 2015
I listened to this album yesterday after reading the interview. I was impressed, particularly with how texturally rich it is. The beats and the strings and the vocals really play off of each other. It turns out that Bjork still isn't my thing, but I'll definitely listen to it a time or two more. There's a lot there. I'm sure people who love it will still be discovering little grace notes in it on the 50th listen.
posted by OmieWise at 3:40 AM on January 23, 2015
posted by OmieWise at 3:40 AM on January 23, 2015
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