I’m not certain how long this is gonna be up (I am taping it as we speak) but Bjork’s new album, due in March, Vulnicura, has leaked and it is terrific, just plain awesome. A ride into the pure beauty and skill of the Icelandic wunderkind who has been around since the 80s (remember the Sugarcubes) and really, where is the weak spot in her lustrous career?
Not here and that’s for sure. With synthesizers and strings, with sounds that are not like anything else and lyrics that touch the heart like Post happened yesterday, there is an clarity to her compassion, a stirring “in my heart is in my breast like love” goes one lyric and it is a gorgeous sentiment. “I did it all for love” Bjork claims and it is hard to deny her.
Made with the help of Venezuelan producer and DJ Arca, on first listen I prefer it to Biophile, especially the classical sounding “Black Lake”, I love the way the violins come in towards the end, the sort of breathing quasi-religiosity of emotions. This is where Bjork is at, she is so inspired by emotions she puts them above every thing and here it makes her sound as though she is singing to the Lord. “Family”, with a deep thudding bass drum puncturing the multi tracks, makes the “father and child” deep with feeling and meaning. More than words can quite express.
The 49 year old singer still seems elfin but yet again her feelings run through her sound, which sounds quite literally like nobody else. You can stream it here for as long as it stays up.
Grade: A-