Artist: Björk
Album: Vulnicura
Review date: 02/09/2016
Björk. How hard it is to describe her, I sighed and pondered a hundred times over how to do this for the last week. She is a true artist, a woman who pours her soul onto her work. Consistently an artist’s work can be appreciated, uncomprehend or simply disliked, it is a matter of perception. What I want to convey is that she doesn’t put out records, she builds pieces of work to express herself in an artistic way.
Her creative career earned the attention of the MoMA. “The Museum of Modern Art presents a retrospective of the multifaceted work of composer, musician, and singer Björk. The exhibition draws from more than 20 years of the artist’s daring and innovative projects and her eight full-length albums to chronicle her career through sound, film, visuals, instruments, objects, and costumes.”[1] The exhibit received unfavorable reviews but if you read them carefully they all are against the museum itself and how they did it and not the work of the artist which leaves her talent unquestioned even by snobby critics.
Vulnicura tells the story of her break up with Matthew Barney. Break up records are usually crowd pleasers, maybe because people love to torture themselves or because they want to find hope in knowing others have gone through the same feelings and endured them to become a stronger person. This one is exceptionally dark and I would describe it as the horror story version of a break up. She describes it as “a complete heartbreak album”[2]. Musically it is a delightful mix of string arrangements and electronic beats. The strings added a lot of dramatic expression to her voice which was fundamental to make every feeling stronger.
The contemporary rule of thumb might be to find a singer with a beautiful voice and have her or him scream as hard as they can how hurt they are. You won’t find any of that in this album, her vocal gifts are used gently. The entire composition of music, vocals and the content of the lyrics are what make it so strong.
Bjork documented her feelings before and after the break up, she was very meticulous about it and with a bit of subjectivity the record tells her story without sparing any of the feelings that come along. In Stonemilker she wants to synchronize their feelings but it’s “Like Milking a Stone”, then on Lionsong she is still uncertain of what will happen, “Maybe he will come out of this loving me” and in History Of Touches she understands it’s over “I wake you up/ In the night feeling/ This is our last time together.”
I consider Black Lake as the strongest part of the record, she is by now torn apart. Below are two segments of the song which will reach the deepest bone of anyone who has suffered heartache.
“I am one wound My pulsating body Suffering being My heart is enormous lake Black with potion I am blind Drowning in this ocean”
“I did it for love, I honored my feelings You betrayed your own heart Corrupted that organ Family was always our sacred mutual mission Which you abandoned”
In the song Family she starts to mourn and you can see the healing process is taking place. However she is concerned because there is “no triangle of love” anymore.
“Is there a place Where I can pay respects For the death of my family”
Finally in Notget she realizes this whole process can only lead her soul to grow after a traumatic experience. If you are personally going through a hard time make sure you pay good attention to this song and don’t just stick with the eviscerating beginning of the album. Painful and hard experiences can give so much to your life if you know how to take advantage of them.
“If I regret us I'm denying my soul to grow Don't remove my pain It is my chance to heal”
“Vulnus” means emotional hurt and “Cura” means attention or care in Latin. So what she did here was to transform all the experiences she went through into an artistic expression that transcends her personal relationship and becomes a very universal situation, broken feelings and the difficult healing process.
Overall rating: 9.5 out of 10
CaffeineOwnsMe 