Björk

[Solar Fields 4,158]

I adore her, but I wish she would focus less on creating "soundscapes" and actually construct hooks and melodies and SONGS. I'm happy for her to go into weird places, she always has, but her last few albums have been hit and miss, for every Mutual Core, Black Lake or Crystalize we get a fucking Hollow, Atom Dance and My Juvenile. One of the songs on her new album is 9 minutes long? you just know its going to go nowhere the whole time.

I think this album will be her most “soundscape-y” unfortunately, especially judging by The Gate.

Although I don’t mind it most of the time, there are some songs (Dark Matter and Hollow) that are just too ramble-y for me :/

[Coney Island King 25,022]

I think this album will be her most “soundscape-y” unfortunately, especially judging by The Gate.

Although I don’t mind it most of the time, there are some songs (Dark Matter and Hollow) that are just too ramble-y for me :/

Well i do like The Gate, just dont need 12 songs of it. We’ll see though, she always has at least a few good songs even on her weaker albums.

[expandableclitoris 9,087]

I adore her, but I wish she would focus less on creating "soundscapes" and actually construct hooks and melodies and SONGS. I'm happy for her to go into weird places, she always has, but her last few albums have been hit and miss, for every Mutual Core, Black Lake or Crystalize we get a fucking Hollow, Atom Dance and My Juvenile. One of the songs on her new album is 9 minutes long? you just know its going to go nowhere the whole time.

 

 

Hollow, Atom Dance and My Juvenile are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay superior than The Gate

Like an abyss of distance between those you mentioned and The Gate

[Coney Island King 25,022]

Hollow, Atom Dance and My Juvenile are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay superior than The Gate

Like an abyss of distance between those you mentioned and The Gate

[jvcx 3,643]

Hollow, Atom Dance and My Juvenile are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay superior than The Gate

Like an abyss of distance between those you mentioned and The Gate

lmao

[Candy Galore 419]

The short version of Venus As A Boy played with a harpischord is the best thing I have ever heard. So soothing.

[jvcx 3,643]

New updates in bold.

 

 

 

 

Utopia

the new album conceived by björk & arca, out 11.24.2017

Formats: Digital, jewelcase CD with 12-page booklet, 6-panel digipak with 12-page booklet and a poster, double heavyweight black vinyl with download, double heavyweight peach vinyl with download (Rough Trade exclusive), luxury edition to be announced(/released) at a later date previously mentioned on OLI but now taken down

Album cover without sticker | CD design | LP design 

Tracklist

01 - 4:59 - arisen my senses

02 - 5:05 - blissing me

03 - 6:33 - the gate

04 - 4:42 - utopia*

05 - 9:46 - body memory

06 - 4:46 - features creatures

07 - 4:44 - courtship*

08 - 6:51 - loss

09 - 4:57 - sue me

10 - 4:42 - tabula rasa*

11 - 3:18 - claimstaker*

12 - 1:44 - paradisa*

13 - 4:41 - saint*

14 - 4:47 - future forever
Total length 71:38

*semi confirmed titles supported by japanese translations

Cover: Jesse Kanda

Creative direction: Jesse Kanda, Björk, James Merry

Makeup: isshehungry

Hair: Raphael Salley

Silicone facepiece: James Merry
 

- - - - - -
Overall

- Five of the album’s songs have been co-written by Arca and one will include a writing credit for Australian composer Sarah Hopkins

- Description on Rough Trade: "Utopia is the ninth studio album from the iconic Björk via One Little Indian Records. It's an album about love, set in a world that is living in politically uncertain times. The new album is another classic from the good lady and her current crew of music makers. It takes in everything from piano and strings to drum machines, beats, bleeps, harps, flutes and samples. The perfect example of how future music can be made by always pushing the boundaries but never forgetting the song. It's another organic and mesmerizing album that unfolds with repeated plays. Simply outstanding - Björk always is."

- Vespertine is basically the closest thing to the record that she's done before; "Vespertine, Homogenic and Vulnicura mashed up with hints of Medúlla in some of the vocal elements (beatbox etc)"
- "As for sonics, the birdsong etc is largely between songs and as part of the textures in the background. Instrumentally lots of wood winds/flute/harp. There are still quite a lot of strings although they feel considerably less over bearing than vulnicura."
- "It feels like 4 distinct movements which is how the version I was listening to was split between vinyl sides."
- "It's definitely an easier listen than vulnicura although way too complex to really get a grip on after a couple of listens"
- "The gate definitely feels like a bit of a false start, weirder than much of what is around it"
- "Much less obvious arca on this than on the gate"
- "Some of it is very beatless. The tracks that do have beats are split fairly evenly between homogenic style skittering rumbles and the more vespertine style of intricate programming with a lot of power taken out. There was one track in particular that was quite choppy and breakbeaty but it had been treated in a vespertine way"
- "As far as poppy goes I wouldn't say much of it was instantly poppy there were a couple of tracks that were more in that direction but also a lot of long track lengths and slow builds"
- "It really depends on the track as far as the beats go."
- Inside artwork, typography and digital illuminations by M/M Paris (as usual)
- According to OLI, "no final decision has been made of what it [luxury edition] shall consist off. we are awaiting confirmation from björk on to the fine details and then it shall reappear on the site. the focus at the moment is on getting the 2 formats out, in standard vinyl, coloured vinyl via rough trade and the 2 x cd versions. of course, like previously a limited version shall appear. but no final decisions have been made. please keep an eye on the website and other social media outlets"

- - - - - -
Specific track descriptions etc.
- arisen my senses: "lots of almost old school stabs with a skittering beat on that one - definitely sounds very light and fluffy and different to the gate." Most likely was called allow earlier, since the descriptions for both named tracks match together - "one of the most straightforward, melodic songs", "illustrates the way that her relationship with Ghersi [Arca] has developed over time."
- blissing me: "reminds of aurora. Harp and vocals and then a gentle kick comes in halfway through which evolves into skittering patterns again. Submerged almost whale noises. Vespertine feel all over this." Has also been described as a folk-like one
- the gate: the album mix features the bird sounds and sound effects from the video intro, but does not feature the flute outro so far exclusive to the vinyl single release. Confirmed by iTunes preview.
- utopia: "opens with vocals wood winds and then in come strings, very orchestral and then gentle skittering beat and choral voices." 
- body memory: "basically a homogenic beat with flute and orchestration of vespertine." I read somewhere on the 4um that it's reportedly some sort of an opposite to Black Lake but with a lighter sound, don't take this for granted though bc I can't find it there anymore despite trying. Björk has told the track is "a manifesto for life. no more analyzing - not letting our neuroses take power by plunging us into an abyss of anxiety - but rely on the instinct of the body to reconnect with everything that connects us to life. if we can no longer love, face the future, our body, he remembers. just let her do it, trust her."
- features creatures: on this one Björk has reportedly worked with Sarah Hopkins. About "the feeling of seeing someone with the same beard and same accent as a lover"
- loss: produced by Rabit who has described the track as "pure feeling"; "thoughts and ideas have wings; we talked about this a lot throughout the process. How force of will is the ultimate force - our ability to choose. I think that the world needs a reminder of that right now. That's what the song is to me, and why it's so necessary." Dazed described that "Rabit provides a crushing jackhammer rhytm" and Rabit himself said "honestly there's not enough wig glue in the world for this track prepare for decimation" on Instagram when the album release date and cover were announced

- sue me: About "Björk's legal stoush with her ex-husband over custody of their teenage daughter" - lyrics; "Let's break this curse so it won't fall on our daughter... sue me all you want"
- tabula rasa: for those who haven't studied any philosophy, tabula rasa is a Latin phrase often translated as "blank slate" - it refers to the epistemological idea that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. In Italian language the phrase apparently holds also another meaning, similar to "starting from scratch" - forgetting the past and starting again.
- future forever: Björk on the track: "this one in particular talks about when you arrive in a new place and you're simply there, staring at the sunset, the horizon, and you feel full of hopes for the future. there are sad, complicated, easy, colorful songs, that deserve to exist, this is one of them"
- - - - - -

 

[renaissance 8,126]

OMG I'm so excited for sue me now, sass queen SNAPPED

[Solar Fields 4,158]

she’s COMING

[jvcx 3,643]

she’s COMING

She definitely is, and by that I might just mean the album...

 

 

 

 

 

Update: ok they're fake lol

[jvcx 3,643]

Tracklist confirmed on musicdirect, according to the staff of OLI/Björk's store the CDs will be shipped about a week before the release date - which means this time around I might just get a record on its actual release date   It took a week for them to deliver my The Gate vinyl so I'm hopeful, fingers crossed

 

[expandableclitoris 9,087]

its going to leak this week, i can feel it in my bones

[National Anthem 9,896]

Features Creatures yes bish

 

also I can’t wait for Future Forever to destroy me!

[Solar Fields 4,158]

I need another single I’m dying here

[jvcx 3,643]

I need another single I’m dying here

 

I wake up every morning hoping they've made an announcement of a promo track  even had a countdown in my dream a few days ago but I just woke up when it hit 0:00 lol

[Solar Fields 4,158]

I’m thirsting for those Crystalline-esque breakbeats

[jvcx 3,643]

New interview with The Guardian and two new promo pics

 

 

 

Utopia-focusing summary of the interview

- One song takes usually a month to write, sometimes two; "usually the whole picture of an album doesn’t emerge for her until very late in the process"

- Björk describes Black Lake as the saddest song she's ever written

- "I wanted this album to go towards the light."

- Björk and Arca "took small elements they liked from Vulnicura, passed sounds they liked to each other via email (melodies from South American flutes, singers from Cambodia) and played with them"

 

- Interviewer on the album; "The result is exceptionally beautiful. Utopia is overwhelming, lush and gorgeous, with harps and flutes and real-life bird calls, a magic forest of constantly changing sound. There’s an ebb and flow dynamic, like the turning of swallows in the sky. Sometimes Björk’s voice is at the fore, sometimes it’s woven in, just another instrument. This is not really an album of pop songs, although you might find one or two, at a push; it’s more orchestral and detailed, all-enveloping." Also "I don’t know that I got all this from one listen, though the sense of wildlife, physical space and bliss was very strong. My notes say things like “epic, full of nature”, “rattle (monkey sounds)”, “flutes gorgeous, beats tough, transcendent"."

- Björk thinks of her utopia as an island, perhaps one that was created out of an eco-disaster, an island where plants have mouths or hover like hummingbirds or grow out of your hands.

- Tabula rasa lyrics: “break the chains of the fuck-ups of our fathers”

- Blissing me lyrics: “I fall in love with his song”

- Sue me is about "the feeling of the end of a difficult relationship, of moving forward"

 

- On mixing Utopia: "But the mixing of this album was really tricky. You know, without trying to sound too pretentious, it was not necessarily about the events but the filters around the sound. The juxtaposition of the flutes and the electronics and the voice and the birds. It’s really delicate. If it’s wrong, the whole thing just tips… It took me three months to mix the album.”

- She thinks of Utopia as having three parts. The discovery of the island, the living there day to day, and then, more prosaically, how humans survive difficult times. 

- Body Memory: about how your body can get you through trauma when your head and heart can’t. It was sparked by another day she spent at her cabin, this time by herself. She wrapped herself in loads of coats, lay down on the moss, and listened to an audiobook of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. She’d been aware of the book for a long time but had dismissed it as “a bit goth”. This time, though, she found it stimulating, especially the final part. “It’s about having people who are experts in dying,” she says, “who have physical practice to help you to die. Like yoga exercises. Breathing exercises… Like death doulas. I was so impressed by this.” And so she wrote Body Memory to remind herself that she is able to move through grief, get past Vulnicura and survive. She wrote six verses, to herself, about “destiny, love, another about sex, another about motherhood, one verse – and this has been a struggle for me – is urban, another rural nature”. The verses are reminding her not to think too much, “not be neurotic, just do this”. “It’s my version of helping myself, suggesting you have it all in you, you have all the answers. Without sounding mushy. It’s like my manifesto. Let’s do this!”

 

[Solar Fields 4,158]

I’m starting to think we won’t get a second single

But anyways my most anticipated tracks are

- Blissing Me

- Features Creatures

- Courtship

- Loss

- Sue Me

- Tabula Rasa

- Saint

- Future Forever

[jvcx 3,643]

Apparently the release date is Nov 16/17 for some reason on iTunes Australia/NZ and people are speculating an early release. 4um mod also posted a message earlier this week, hinting that something might be coming but deleted it shortly after... so people are wondering if they're trying to avoid a (Vulnicura-like) leak and if 24th is just for distraction. We know for a fact that OLI and Björk stores are shipping out the CDs later this week so... I dunno. Fingers crossed tbh, 24th is so close yet so far.

[National Anthem 9,896]

Blissing Me is coming out tomorrow!!!