Vespertine

About

Released in 2001, <i>Vespertine</i> is the sound of Björk in love. It was written and recorded as the singer was tumbling headfirst into a relationship with her future long-term partner, the conceptual artist Matthew Barney. Along the way, she found the shimmering sonic treasures of <i>Vespertine</i>. But for all its romantic moment, this is also an album born out of pain. <i>Vespertine</i> got underway during production on Danish provocateur Lars Von Trier’s bleak 2000 musical melodrama, <i>Dancer in the Dark</i>. Björk served as the film’s lead actor, and also composed songs for the soundtrack (which were eventually released on her album <i>Selmasongs</i>). <i>Dancer in the Dark</i> was met with critical acclaim—with Björk even receiving an Oscar nod for the song “I’ve Seen It All.” But the filming process itself proved harrowing. During that fraught time on the set, a fictional character named Vespertine—whom Björk later described as a “lady in waiting, hibernating in winter”—became a sort of refuge for the Icelandic songstre, and helped inspire the 12 tracks found here. Björk envisioned <i>Vespertine</i> as a response to the extroverted, more nature-based qualities of 1997’s <i>Homogenic</i>—a headphones-and-laptop opus explicitly made for the dawning age of Napster. To bring <i>Vespertine</i> to life, she enlisted a stable of collaborator, including The Notwist alum Martin Gretschmann—aka Console—as well as the experimental duo Matmo. Together, they came up with a suite of songs rife with whispery vocal, found sound, and sonic moments that Björk fondly dubbed “microbeats”—all of it designed not to sound compromised when downloaded online. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

Start your shelf to read the full take →