http://www.sonicnet.com/artists/ai_singlestory.jhtml?id=1441258&ai_id=972

Sonicnet.com  2001-03-05

By Eric Demby


"Bjork Says New Record Allowed Her To Clear Her Head"


   Singer/actress physically needed to get back to music after working 
   on movie project.


For Björk, a master of the surreal and a citizen of her own musical 
universe, returning to the sonic realm after a beleaguered stint as an 
actress was a physical necessity.

"You know when you're working on a project but all your insides are made 
out of something completely different?" the elfin Icelandic singer 
wondered aloud, referring to her acclaimed but demanding role in last 
year's "Dancer in the Dark." "It can become quite an intolerable 
pressure difference."

With Vespertine, her fourth full-length, set for a May 22 release - 
following its predecessor, Homogenic, by more than three-and-a-half 
years - Björk is ready for music to overtake her psyche. The album 
(which she said referred to "things that happen in twilight") will be 
her first new music since the seven-song Selmasongs EP came out in 
September as the soundtrack to "Dancer."

"It's a relief for me," she said, "after three years of doing the film 
to be back doing songs that are in my head: the same thing is happening 
on the outside as on the inside."

Despite being recorded around the globe, including sessions in London, 
New York, Spain, Denmark and Iceland, during a tumultuous period for the 
singer/producer, Björk said Vespertine is marked by its sense of calm. 
Even some of the song titles - "Cocoon," "Aurora," "Hidden Place" - 
suggest an inward turn as compared to the relative catharsis of 
Homogenic.

"Homogenic for me was very emotionally confrontational and very 
dramatic," Björk said, "both in the melodic sense of the strings and the 
distorted beats; a lot of steroids in the air. Vespertine is sort of the 
opposite - very introverted, very quiet and peaceful, and at peace with 
one's self."

The slightly disjointed nature of the album's development, as well as 
the distraction of "Dancer," forced Björk to turn to her laptop as her 
main compositional tool. It was a new technique for a producer 
accustomed to marathon studio sessions and the stamp of heavy production 
effects on most of her work. As with anything Björk does, however, she 
simply incorporated the situation into her internal fantasy world, then 
morphed it into something poignant.

"This record is very much about inventing your own paradise, but 
underneath your kitchen table, so it's very secretive," she explained. 
"It's sort of about being on your own in your house with your laptop and 
whispering for a year and just writing a very peaceful song that 
tiptoes."

That homey perspective, combined with the selection of acoustic 
instruments Björk chose for Vespertine, including the celeste, music box 
and harp, were the reasons she originally named the album Domestika, but 
she eventually scrapped that title as too literal.

"Hidden Place" will be the first single simply because it was the first 
of three videos for the album to be completed. The clip is the first 
directed by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, a Dutch couple 
living in New York who took the photographs for Björk's 1998 video 
collection, Volumen. Another song from the album, "Harm of Will," 
features lyrics written by director Harmony Korine, a friend of Björk's 
for the past three years, according to the singer.

Although she produced the new album on her own, Björk collaborated with 
her usual tandem of engineers and producer friends, including Mark Bell 
(who also worked on Depeche Mode's upcoming Exciter) and Guy Sigsworth. 
The San Francisco avant-garde duo Matmos, who did a remix for the 1998 
single release of Homogenic's "Alarm Call," also contributed to the 
album and will open for Björk on tour. Innovative New York harpist Zena 
Parkins will also open shows during the Vespertine tour.