Bjork

The Invisible Woman With each album she makes, Björk immerses us in a fantastical universe of her own design. Now, A conversation with Bjork on Vulnicura, she’s letting us in to her world— though it is not necessarily one of her own choos- ing. The album outlines the dissolution of Björk’s relationship with her longtime partner, the art- ist Matthew Barney. She confesses the devasta- tion with candor. By the third song, “History of Touches”, she’s lying awake in bed, indexing the past with startling intimacy: “Every single fuck we had together is in a wondrous time-lapse with us here at this moment,” she laments over glis- tening synths. She details her struggle to keep her family intact, limning distance, rejection, and the death of their covenant. The blunt force of her words is striking. And damning.

Vulnicura, her new album, is about the demise of her 14-year relationship with the artist Mathew Barney, father of her daughter. The songs are like beautiful, bleeding wounds, and the album liner notes even tells the listener how many months before or after the breakup they were each written. So much of pop mu- sic is about broken hearts, and loves that should have lasted for ever failing to do so, that you are almost sur- prised by how new this subject feels in Björk’s hands. Lyrics include: “You fear my limitless emotions/ I’m bored of your apocalyptic obsessions/ Did I love you too much?/ Devotion bent me broken”; “I wake you up in the night feeling/ This is our last time together/ Therefore sensing all the moments we’ve been together … every single touch we ever touch each other.” Perhaps it comes as some relief, then, to find that Björk is actually quite happy in the flesh. She gives off an air of kindness, and says it is true about time being a healer, because the events that inspired the album happened more than two years ago. I ask if she wrote the music quickly, because it came from a place of pain, and had to be released, not hung on to.She exhales deeplsays. If there s one much abou 02

ly. I don t know, shee album I don t knowut, it s this one. 03

The cast of Vulnicura is limited to a “you” that is onlyBarney, Björk, and their child; the “we” of it is fleeting.There is a joyous, striving before, which only makes thefamilial fragmenting that plays across these long, dra-matic songs even more wrenching. She tries to staunchthe ruin with love, but it’s no use. The album ends withBjörk’s reclamation of herself, her voice, and her music,turning Vulnicura into a document of salvation, albe-it a fraught one. “When I’m broken I am whole,” shesings on closer “Quicksand”, “and when I'm whole I'm broken.”Sitting in a hotel room in London’s East End on Hal-loween, Björk, casually clad in a flamingo-pink kimo-no, red tights, and platform high tops, is as eager to talkabout Vulnicura as she is reticent to talk about whatinspired it. The love, struggle, and dissolution are allplain in the lyrics, which are uncharacteristically dia-ristic; singing about a desire for “emotional respect” ismore what you’d expect from Mary J. Blige than an art-ist whose previous album considered the world atomi-cally. The few metaphors that do arise involve natural,immovable objects like stones, a lake, quicksand—darkforces, being consumed, certain destruction. The al-bum’s centerpiece, the 10-minute “Black Lake”, is therelational post-mortem, a litany of incompatibilitiesover rising strings, before Björk spits the rhetorical“Did I love you too much?” as if the question curdled in her mouth as she conjured the words. 04

Vulnicura may be themost tender-heartedwork Björk has everissued, but it also findsher most sure of herpower as a woman, aproducer, and an artist;all of her invisible workmade clear. 05

Pitchfork: In the first two songs on the record, you’resinging about wanting to find clarity. Does writing asong about something that has happened bring you clar- ity on the other end?B: Yeah, I think so. When it works. I go for a lot of walksand I sing. That’s when you find an angle on things, whereit makes sense for that particular moment. It’s more thatfeeling. In a way, I also rediscovered music, because [chokesup]—I’m sorry—it’s so miraculous what it can do to you;when you are in a really fucked situation, it’s the only thingthat can save you. Nothing else will. And it does, it real-ly does. I’m hoping the album will document the journeythrough. It is liberation in the end. It comes out as a healing process, because that’s how I experienced it myself.Pitchfork: It very much does. Towards the end of the re-cord, there is a Buddhist sentiment about the obstaclebeing the path. You sing, “Don’t remove my pain, it’s mychance to heal.” That’s how we figure things out, isn’t it?That the only way out is through, that having things be easier is not helpful in the long run.B: When I say that, it might come across that I’m incred-ibly wise. But it’s the other way around. I’m fucked andI’m trying to talk myself into it, like, “Go, girl! You can doit!” It’s me advising myself. It’s not me knowing it all—notat all. It’s just a certain route you just have to go; I went through it.It’s really hard for me to talk about it. It really is in the lyr-ics. I’ve never really done lyrics like this, because they’re soteenage, so simple. I wrote them really quickly. But I alsospent a long time on them to get them just right. It’s sohard to talk about the subject matter; it’s impossible—I’msorry. [tears up] There’s so many songs about [heartbreak]that exist this in the world, because music is somehow theperfect medium to express something like this. When I didthe interviews about Biophilia, I could talk for four hoursabout tech and education and science and instruments andpendulums—all the things we did. This one, I couldn’t putany of that stuff on top of it, because it has to be what it is.And I can’t talk about it. It’s not that I don’t want to, I’m not trying to be difficult. It really is all in there. 06

“WHEN I MBROKEN I AMWHOLE, ANDWHEN I MWHOLE I M

VULNICURA 08

The cast of Vulnicura is limited to a “you” that is onlyBarney, Björk, and their child; the “we” of it is fleet-ing. There is a joyous, striving before, which onlymakes the familial fragmenting that plays acrossthese long, dramatic songs even more wrenching.She tries to staunch the ruin with love, but it’s nouse. The album ends with Björk’s reclamation ofherself, her voice, and her music, turning Vulnicurainto a document of salvation, albeit a fraught one.“When I’m broken I am whole,” she sings on closer “Quicksand”, “and when I'm whole I'm broken.”Sitting in a hotel room in London’s East End onHalloween, Björk, casually clad in a flamingo-pinkkimono, red tights, and platform high tops, is aseager to talk about Vulnicura as she is reticent totalk about what inspired it. The love, struggle, anddissolution are all plain in the lyrics, which are un-characteristically diaristic; singing about a desire for“emotional respect” is more what you’d expect fromMary J. Blige than an artist whose previous albumconsidered the world atomically. The few metaphorsthat do arise involve natural, immovable objectslike stones, a lake, quicksand—dark forces, beingconsumed, certain destruction. The album’s center-piece, the 10-minute “Black Lake”, is the relationalpost-mortem, a litany of incompatibilities over ris-ing strings, before Björk spits the rhetorical “Did Ilove you too much?” as if the question curdled in her mouth as she conjured the words. 09

“IT TAKES ALONG TIME TOBECOME WHOYOU TRULYARE.” 10

Pitchfork: How does it feel to be putting out a re- cord this personal?Björk: I’m a little nervous. Definitely. Especiallycoming from an album like Biophilia, which wasabout the universe. This is more of a traditional sing-er/songwriter thing. When I started writing, I foughtagainst it. I thought it was way too boring and pre-dictable. But most of the time, it just happens; there’s nothing you can do. You have to let it be what it is.Pitchfork: Did you know this was the record that was going to come out of you? B: No, no. With most of my albums, I don’t really know what I’m doing for the first year or so. It’safterwards, when it’s almost ready and I start mixingand doing the photographs, that I can see it for whatit is. With this album, it was a big surprise. When I listened to the songs, it is almost like a diary.Pitchfork: It sounds like an album about partner-ship, motherhood, and family—things that bond us—and your worst fears about them... B: [chokes up] I’m sorry. 11