http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/artists/b/bjork/underthegrill/page1.shtml BBC Online 2001-08-17 By ??? "Under the grill" We caught up with the enigmatic Björk backstage at the Pops and asked her about her new album, 'Verspertine'. TOTP: We loved that performance of 'Hidden Place' with the wonderful choir - tell us about it. Björk: The choir that was singing with me? The girls? I found them! I was travelling in Greenland, and I went between villages and had auditions and found 16 girls and they are gonna tour with me for 5 months now. They have been flying - in planes. Most of them have never left their villages before, and they arrived today at noon, and came straight into TOTP, so that's the first foreign place they see. TOTP: Also, tell us about this outfit you're wearing - it's quite amazing! (Just so you know, pop fans, Bjork was wearing an extremely revealing cardigan - Ed) Björk: OK, um yeah, my swan, ah, we don't wanna talk about clothes, right? TOTP: Well, it's such a cool outfit.. Björk: I'll tell you about my socks... TOTP: OK, we'll move on from that one then. Björk: Yeah, give me a musical one! TOTP: That's fine. So your new single... Björk: Sorry to be difficult... TOTP: That's OK! So you've got your new single from your new album - tell us a little bit about the single. Björk: My song's called 'Hidden Place' and it's all about creating a paradise that's sort of internal, so you sort of close your eyes. And then I guess the song's a little bit about maybe inviting someone into it, you know? Into your hidden place, asking if somebody would be up for coming in, coming into your cocoon. TOTP: Umm, right! So - where on earth do you get the inspiration for your songs? Björk: I guess usually I'm just inspired by friends and family and... just things around me, things that happen to me. TOTP: So can we expect the album, 'Vespertine', to be like the single? Björk: I think overall there are things that are similar in the whole album. I have a choir and harps and a celeste and all these more sort of crystallised instruments, if you like, and very microbeats. So, in a lot of ways, it's sort of opposite to my last album where I had very big distortive beats, and my big rough emotions, and big strings. Everything on this album is kind of small and sweet, I guess. But I think this song is pretty different. TOTP: You're living in New York City now. Do you think that has affected your mood or style on this album? Björk: Well, I guess, because my album is pretty internal and it's sort of all written in your bedroom, on a laptop. So 90% of it was kind of done in the home. So I guess you could argue very easily that that album I could have done anywhere. It was sort of more about hiding, and creating a cocoon, so I don't think New York has influenced it much. TOTP: You talk of laptops and so on - are you very into the internet? Björk: I have a lot of friends who make music and we talk a lot about music. I guess a lot of my friends kept moaning about Napster and music being downloaded and how much it suffers, soundwise, so I just thought it would be an interesting challenge to try and create music that would actually benefit from being downloaded. A lot of my vocals are kind of whispered, and that sort of stuff, so I was downloading a lot off the net when I was writing it. I think people that make pop music and folk music have always adapted to people's lifestyles. It's sort of about that really - to take what you've got and make something magical out of it - so I thought I'd give it a go. TOTP: Any plans to take this album out on the road? Björk: Yeah, I'm gonna tour now for 5 months. I'm going all around Europe and Japan and also North America. TOTP: Do you have a favourite country or city that you like performing in? Björk: I think it just varies from gig to gig really - it's hard to pin it down. I guess the most cosmopolitan cities, like London, New York, LA, are always the most difficult to play because people are very... naked. They're very certain that nothing's going to move them. But that's sort of a challenge at the same time too.