Björk – Vulnicura (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Björk - Vulnicura (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Björk – Vulnicura (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:40 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Electronic, Alternative
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © One Little Independent Records

Bjork has recorded many albums, under many different agendas, but there hasn’t been one as openly honest, vulnerable, yet powerful as this. As a follow up to Vespertine; that narrated the magical nature of falling in love, this is a diary entry of coming out the other side, her break-up with her partner Matthew Barney. Co-produced by Arca and The Haxan Cloak, the cinematic string arrangements, and the hiccuping percussion, alongside her lyrical confrontations and confessions, bring together a collaboration that is both symbiotic and dynamic. Written during the nine month period before her relationship ended, the first three tracks illustrate the confusion and denial on the impending break-up, while the following tracks move through the phases, ‘Black Lake’ drowns you with questions and pounding driving percussion, while ‘Family’ has The Haxan Cloak’s sound of the universe ripping apart. The last three tracks shed the dead skin, and the track ‘Atom Dance’ emerges featuring Antony Hegarty, with her ‘dancing towards transformation’. The last track on the album ‘Quicksand’ is a collaboration between Bleep’s own Spaces, where they have re-arranged his track ‘Apologies’ (that was released on his Spaces One EP), into a track of stuttering salvation. This is an incredibly sincere work, where she channels all of her strengths and struggles into an album that demands the listener to be as receptive as her in listening to it.

Never one to do things timidly, with Vulnicura Björk delivers a breakup album that isn’t just sad — it throws listeners into the total devastation of heartbreak. Starting with the album cover’s wound/vulva imagery, she explores the tightly linked emotional and physical pain the end of a relationship brings with an intensity that has been missing from her music for too long. As expertly as she wedded feelings and concepts on Medúlla, Volta, and especially Biophilia, hearing her sing directly about her emotions is a galvanizing reminder of just how good she is at it. For the first time in a long time, the conceptual framework of a Björk album feels like it’s in service of feelings she must express, and as she traces the before, during, and after of a breakup, she links Vulnicura to the most emotionally bare parts of her discography. The clearest connection is to Homogenic’s electro-orchestral drama, which she updates on “Stonemilker.” The way Björk sings “emotional needs” echoes “Joga”‘s “emotional landscapes” and prepares listeners for the state of emergency that makes up the rest of the album. On “History of Touches,” she inverts the hushed intimacy of Vespertine (the album that celebrated the beginning of her relationship with artist Matthew Barney, just as this one chronicles its end) with choppy synth-strings that convey the fractured sensuality of being physically close and emotionally worlds apart. However, Vulnicura’s songs are often longer and more deconstructed than either of those albums, and the involvement of co-producers Arca and Haxan Cloak (who also handled most of the mixing) ensures that this is some of Björk’s darkest music. “Lionsong” brilliantly captures the nauseating anxiety of an uncertain relationship, its warped harmonies and teetering strings evoking a high-stakes game of “he loves me, he loves me not.” Even though Björk crawls out of the abyss on the album’s final third, which culminates with the relatively hopeful “Quicksand,” Vulnicura’s agonizing middle section is its crowning achievement and crucible. The ten-minute “Black Lake” allows Björk the space to let everything unravel, and as the strings drone and the beats tower and tumble, her unvarnished lyrics (“You have nothing to give/Your heart is hollow”) perfectly distill the moments of purging and clarity that eventually point the way out of heartache. Here and on “Family,” where Haxan Cloak’s claustrophobic production makes Björk’s anguish (the way she sings “sorrow” contains multitudes) all the more wrenching, the purity of her expression is both highly personal and universal. Vulnicura honors her pain and the necessary path through and away from loss with some of her bravest, most challenging, and most engaging music. – Heather Phares

Tracklist:

01. Björk – Stonemilker (06:49)
02. Björk – Lionsong (06:08)
03. Björk – History of Touches (03:00)
04. Björk – Black Lake (10:08)
05. Björk – Family (08:02)
06. Björk – Notget (06:26)
07. Björk – Atom Dance (08:09)
08. Björk – Mouth Mantra (06:09)
09. Björk – Quicksand (03:45)

Download:

Related Posts

%d bloggers like this: