VeckoRevyn 1995-06-28 By Micke Goulos Translated by lunargirl "'I don't want to meet Madonna'" A popstar diva? Not Björk. She talks non stop. And she says what's on her mind. For example that Madonna should listen more to her feelings. Anyhow, VR:s Micke Goulos listened to Björk. Björk likes fairytales and she likes trains. So I am sitting in a coupé on a fairytale train, the of ancient lineage Orient Express, the one Agatha Christie wrote about, to talk to the Björkess about her new album that arrived in the days. I climbed aboard in Innsbruck, Austria, along with tens of other journalists from tens of other countries, to choo- choo through the Alps towards Venice. I wait, time passes. A harsh, happy and piercing cackling is heard in the corridor. It is Björk, wanting an headache pill and a glass of mineral water. She has a hangover from sitting in the bar half the night, playing jazztunes for the astonished co-travelers that rode with the train from London. Then she arrives and motherly takes care of me. She is dressed in bathslippers, a big sweeping sun-orange skirt in raw silk and a cèrice satin top. She smells newly bathed and has flaky red toenails. Björk is happy and has woken up in a great mood. She energetically peels off the label on her waterbottle and cheers about a song she wrote this morning, just because the view from the train window was so fantastic. It's narrow and shaky on the train. The interview microphone won't sit still, Björk tucks it into one of her flip-flops, which she then places beside her. How considerate. She is small, but not as small as you could imagine after seeing her picture. And she is definitely not the ethereal little cook you could get the image of after reading some interviews. On the contrary. Björk is sharp. She has a grip. Total grip. And she simmers with lust to tell. After each question follows long and merry expositions. She peppers her language with extremes. Things are often "brilliant" or "horrible". Nothing in between. And it's not just Björk's treatment of the English that is so expressive, her pronunciation is too. "Brilliant" (perhaps the most common word in Björk's vocabulary) becomes in her mouth a lolly "prrrrilliant" with a perky P. And a harsh, rolling R. Talking about music she can become pretty crazy. Despite the fact that she studied music for 10 years and knows her jazz, her minimalism, her Charleston or whatever you want, she can become abstract when it comes to describing a sound. Sounds can be fluffy. Or pink. Everyone who meets Björk seem to fall head-long for her. After the interviews all the purified journalist guys (for there are only that kind) sit in the bar and look like a herd of silly schoolboys with a crush. Björk has managed to make everyone of us feel loved. How does she do this? Well, maybe it is because (patheticwarning) Björk really believes everyone actually is good. Because she is. Anyhow. Here is what she thinks: I don't want to meet Madonna! About "Post" being a divorce album... The last album was so polite and careful since I was so shy, almost like a virgin. I didn't really know how to behave. Now I feel much braver. The happy songs are happier than before, the sad songs are sadder and the bitter songs have become more bitter. Everything is more extreme on "Post". But, sure, you can call it a divorce album, I broke up with my boyfriend just before I wrote the lyrics. The album is also a divorce from Iceland. Much is about being without roots and with no foothold, happy and scared at the same time. I am actually surprised that people thought of the last album as happy. It doesn't seem hip to be happy. It is unusual at least. I am still happy, but I have more sides to me than that. But when I am happy I am one hundred per cent happy and when I'm pissed I am one hundred per cent pissed... About why "Post" is called "Post"... The name functions in many languages and I like to write letters. My new songs feel like letters telling about what has happened to me and what new situations I have gotten myself into. I have moved from Iceland, which I never thought I would do, but two years ago I packed my bags and moved to England. The whole thing is very exciting, but at the same time it is a very scary feeling. About being a celebrated child star... I was able to make a record already at the age of eleven. It became a hit, I became a child star and - hated it. The picture on the cover was of me, but it didn't feel like it was my album. All I did was to sing on it and there was only one song I had written myself. I felt horribly guilty. The papers wanted to do interviews with me, the kids in school wanted to be friends with me and all of it felt horrible. Then I was offered to do another album, but I said "fuck off" and started a punk band with people my own age. I had orange hair and everybody hated us, which was exactly what we wanted. About telling stories... We have no art, no music, no dance in Iceland. Literature is the thing. Stories, poems, hymns. Icelanders were the first rappers in Europe, we told stories about the Vikings and the kings of the northern Europe and kept them alive that way. But it took until the 14th century before anyone wrote it down. And it's still a little like that today. Iceland is actually only about stories. When I meet my old friends and drink with them we don't go to any disco - we tell stories. Looong stories. My English friends can't keep up with us, they lose their concentration only after a few minutes. About writing songs... To me making music is about being generous. The second I get greedy I lose my ability to make music. I have experienced it so many times. Even if I only write one single little line that I like and want to save, it means I can't write any more. As soon as I finish the line and give it away, ten more comes with ease. If I get greedy, I simply can't write. About her lazy brother and the song "Army Of Me"... It's a song for the movie "Tank Girl", but it is actually about my brother. He is pretty lazy and likes things like food, sex, sleep - very basic needs. It's just that he does it more than others. Then he started smoking, well, not cigarettes. It felt as if he was in a coma. He just sat on his butt complaining, "the worlds stinks, I can't get a job, there are no good albums to buy and even if I wanted to buy them, I don't have any money to buy them with. Blah blah blah." Self-pity from morning to night, which really pisses me off. You can stand a whining brother to a limit, but for ten years, from he was 14 to that he turned 24. I simply had enough. That's it. Stand on your own legs, get a job, get a life. And if you complain once more, you'll met an "Army Of Me". I am not going to save you anymore, your rescue squad is too exhausted. That's what the song is about. About the Sugarcubes being a joke... My time with the Sugarcubes was one of the "most magical" periods of my life. We were six persons who really loved eachother to death. We were friends, we had known eachother forever, we started a band, more or less as a joke - and people took us seriously! We just laughed. Three of us were poets who were seen as the most promising in the country and what do we do? Go to Texas and do guitarsolos. Of course we couldn't live on a joke forever. It just wasn't fun in the end. Finally we found ourselves in the rock'n'roll dressingrooms playing "Spinal Tap" and nobody had written a single line in four years. This time meant a lot to me and I learned incredibly much, but in the end it all just felt so unhealthy. About her best quality... I want to work with other people when I do music. What I am best at is relationships. I am good at bringing out the best in people, and I they lack a certain quality, I supply it. I like being someone's other half and think it is masturbation to work all by myself. The biggest challenge in life is communication. Before "Debut", I had worked with all the people in Iceland I could think of and achieved all musical climaxes you can reach within musical circumstances. So I had to move. About why she avoids Madonna... There have been several occasions when it has been self-evident for us to meet, but my instinct always told me the situation would get bothersome and faked. She seems to be all brains and no instinct, even if it obviously can't be so, since she has gotten herself to where she is now. You can also tell by her way of always surviving, that she must have a hell of a lot of instinct. But in the daily life it seems as if she isn't aware of her subconscious, as silly as it may sound. I have tried to avoid her, as much as I could. I like her, but she seems to be a woman obsessed with material things. The universe she surrounds herself with, I can't take it. I would much rather just bump into her in a bar by an accident not even knowing who she is. About her own volubility... God, how I am babbling! I get all dizzy! I have to open the window. (Björk opens the window and gasps like a dog.)