Björk - Vulnicura [2015]

It is a little bit ironic for an artist like Björk that her return to form, which this album surely is, would be an album like Vulnicura. This level of quality was not expected. Björk is an incredible artist, but unlike Vulnicura, her past two albums have missed the mark. Volta was inconsistent, containing stunning songs like “Wanderlust” and “Vertabrae by Vertabrae” but at the same time containing songs with questionable production such as “Innocence” or “Declare Independence”. Next came Biophilia, which was easily her worst project to date, with a concept that ultimately proved to be a lot more interesting than the final musical execution of it. Moving on, the irony here is that Vulnicura has two aspects that were not present in any past Björk releases. The first being that, as many have pointed out, this album is by far the most personal, revealing, and lyrically literal album Björk has ever put out. This is not to suggest that everything she says on this album is literal, but it is very direct, especially during the first half. There are many lyrical metaphors and similes of course, but gone is the science of Biophilia or the supernatural stories of things like “Isobel”. Here we find Björk singing about her relationship and eventual break up with Matthew Barney, demanding “emotional respect” (“Stonemilker”), questioning if “he will come out of this loving me” (“Lionsong”) and wondering if there is anywhere to “pay respects for the death” of her family (“Family”).

The second aspect of Vulnicura that makes its success a little bit ironic is that this is arguably the first time Björk has revisited a style that she had apparently left behind. Björk is someone who at times seems to revel in how different she is; from her wardrobe to her music, there really does not seem to be anyone else like her. Taking this into account it is not surprising that most Björk albums are very different from all of her albums that came before it, but this one arguably does not fall into that category. After albums like Medúlla and Volta, which both notably lack any songs that contain string arrangements; Medúlla focusing on beatboxing and vocal acrobatics while many of the songs on Volta contained horn sections, it was hard to see Björk returning to string-based production, like on “Hunter” or “Harm of Will”. Biophilia did little to disprove this theory, as it was another Björk record with little to no strings.

Despite her recent releases, Vulnicura is the most string-based Björk release to date. This album utilizes strings even more so than Homogenic or Vespertine; on Vulnicura, strings have huge roles in 8 of the 9 tracks. The string arrangements (which were all written by Björk) that are found throughout Vulnicura could be said to be a continuation of the style she occasionally embraced on Homogenic and Vespertine, which can be quickly summed up as a great marriage between strings and electronic beats. This album is the other side of the coin that is Vespertine. Vespertine is an intimate album about love and sex, whereas Vulnicura is, even more blatantly, an album about the death of a relationship.

Vulnicura is the best Björk album since Vespertine. As some might expect due to the subject matter, Vulnicura is a heavy album and might be jarring, or just too much on the first listen. It probably isn’t an album one should use to start their journey through Björk’s discography. It is a stunning piece of work that does not cater to a casual listen. 

“Stonemilker” might be the most beautiful song Björk has ever opened up an album with. The thematic strings provide a perfect backdrop to Björk’s voice, which despite being 49 years old now, still sounds just as good, if not better, than it did on her albums with the Sugarcubes and Debut. The song that follows it, “Lionsong”, is the most infectious song on the album. It’s something that will eventually be seen with the “Hunter”s and “Bachelorettes”s of her catalog as being one of her best performances period. “History of Touches” is the song with cold and sparse electronic beats where co-producer Arca’s influence is very notable. Although “History of Touches” is quite dark and revealing, it’s impossible to prepare oneself for “Black Lake”. “Black Lake” is a song that builds and gets more brilliant as it goes on, it also happens to be the longest and most personal track Björk has ever recorded, filled with various blatant jabs at her ex-partner Matthew Barney. 

Most of what has been said about Vulnicura hails “Black Lake” as its centerpiece, but “Family” could also be seen in that role. “Family”, starts off with what is probably the most ominous-sounding use of strings in the album and then jumps into a cello solo fit for a horror movie, but eventually the listener is finally given a glimpse of Björk’s healing process. The song ends sonically and lyrically on a hopeful note as Björk “raise[es] a monument of love”. “Family” is central to the album because the listener is exposed to two extremes, for the lack of better words, the dark, and the light. This leads into “Notget”, where we find Björk confronting the breakup head-on with lines like “don’t remove my pain, it is my chance to heal” over an interesting arrangement of organs, strings, and fast-paced drums. Björk then dives into what is my favorite string arrangement on the album besides “Stonemilker”, "Atom Dance". "Atom Dance" a beautiful duet with Antony Hegarty that starts with wonderfully light pizzicato played waltz and eventually (around the 5-minute mark) changes into a song with a beautiful and quickly bowed string section. 

The album ends with “Mouth Mantra” and “Quicksand”. “Mouth Mantra” is a song that has a very urgent feel to it, treating the listener to more of that string and electronic mix that is present in the majority of Vulnicura. There is a particularly interesting change of pace between the 3:25 minute mark and the 4:10 mark where the production gets noticeably darker. The closer, “Quicksand” is a good song, but is probably the worst track. Björk’s vocal approach is subdued and hesitant at times in comparison to the four songs that come before it, which are all epic and powerful. Notwithstanding the drop in quality in “Quicksand”, overall Vulnicura is a pleasant surprise. The album is so good that it will leave disillusioned fans wondering why they ever doubted Björk in the first place.