Vespertine

Infobox Album | Name = Vespertine
Type = Album
Artist = Björk


Released = August 27, 2001
Recorded = 2000 - 2001
Genre = Electronica, Ambient, Alternative, Trip hop, Illbient, IDM, Minimal
Length = 55:33
Label = One Little Indian
Producer = Björk Thomas Knak Martin Console Marius de Vries
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:uo0e4j275waq link]
*Wireless Bollinger (70/100) [http://www.wirelessbollinger.com/content/view/432/81/ link]
*"The A.V. Club" (Favourable) [http://avclub.com/content/node/12875 link]
*"Blender" rating|4|5 [http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=866 link]
*"NME" (8/10) August, 2001 (p. 51)
*Pitchfork Media (7.2/10) [http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15464-vespertine link]
*"Q" rating|4|5 September, 2001 (p. 109)
*Robert Christgau (A-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=149&name=Bj%F6rk link]
*"Rolling Stone" rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bjork/albums/album/110022/review/5946582/vespertine link]
*"Slant Magazine" rating|4|5 [http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=17 link]
*"Yahoo! rating|9|10 [http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/l_reviews_a/21556.html]
Last album = "" (2000)
This album = "Vespertine" (2001)
Next album = "Greatest Hits" (2002)
Misc = | Misc = Singles
Name = Vespertine
Type = album
single 1 = Hidden Place
single 1 date = August 2001
single 2 = Pagan Poetry
single 2 date = November 2001
single 3 = Cocoon
single 3 date = March 2002

"Vespertine", released in August 2001, is an album by the Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician Björk. It sees Björk creating an introverted, quiet world of swirling microbeats and personal lyrics. On the cover she can be seen wearing the swan dress (designed by Marjan Pejoski) that caused a stir at the 2001 Academy Awards.

The album was originally released both on CD and on DVD-Audio in 2-channel (48khz/24bit) and 5.1-channel (96khz/24bit) advanced resolution. It peaked at number eight in the UK Albums Chart and at number 19 in the U.S. Billboard 200. It' was also nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 2002 Grammy Awards. Recently music webzine Drowned In Sound named Vespertine the number-one album of the last six years not to garner press attention. [ [http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/1254995 Drowned in Sound - Features - DiS is 6: Our 66, the top six ] ] Stylus Magazine placed it 36th on their 'Top 50 Albums: 2000-2005'. [ [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1430 The Top 50 Albums: 2000-2005 - Article - Stylus Magazine ] ] Vespertine was also selected as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. [ [http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/1001albums.htm Outline Page ] ]

The album was re-released in 2006 as a DualDisc including a lower-quality DTS 96/24 version of the original advanced resolution 5.1 mix. The DualDisc also formed part of the "" box set.

On August 22, 2008 Björk wrote an open letter on her official website expressing her anger at the fact that Valgeir Sigurðsson has over the years been credited with writing the instrumentals for the album. She explained that he had been only an engineer and programmer, and argued that part of the reason was to do with sexism in the music industry. [http://bjork.com/news/?id=854;year=2008]

Album information

Björk uses an array of sampled objects to create beats and soundscapes in a number of songs on "Vespertine", including shuffling cards on "Cocoon" and "Hidden Place"; snow being walked upon on "Frosti", and ice being cracked and smashed on "Aurora".

"Vespertine" is Björk's longest album, at 55:33 (apart from compilations).

"Hidden Place", "Pagan Poetry" and "Cocoon" were released as singles from the album. A rumoured fourth single, "It's Not Up to You", never made it to release, presumably because of the birth of Björk's daughter Isadora.

The lyrics to "An Echo, a stain" are taken from Sarah Kane's play Crave.

The lyrics of "Harm of Will" were written by Harmony Korine and are about Will Oldham.

The last track on the album, "Unison," uses a sample of St Paul's Cathedral Choir singing a segment of Patrick Gowers's "Viri Galilaei" recorded in 1994.

The initial title for the album was "Domestika". A song of the same title was recorded, but was eventually included as a B-side on the "Pagan Poetry" single as "Domestica", which has the original title "Lost Keys".

Early versions of the album were leaked onto the internet with some differences to the final release. Tracks were in a different order, the song "It's in Our Hands" was originally included (replaced by the instrumental "Frosti" on the final version), and some tracks appeared under different titles, including "Pagan Poetry" ("Blueprint") and "Cocoon" ("Mouth").

Track listing

#"Hidden Place" (Björk, Guy Sigsworth, Mark Bell) – 5:31
#"Cocoon" (Björk, Thomas Knak) – 4:30
#"It's Not Up to You" (Björk) – 5:10
#"Undo" (Björk, Knak) – 5:40
#"Pagan Poetry" (Björk) – 5:16
#"Frosti" (Björk) – 1:43
#"Aurora" (Björk) – 4:39
#"An Echo, A Stain" (Björk, Sigsworth, Sarah Kane (lyrics)) – 4:06
#"Sun in My Mouth" (Björk, Sigsworth, E. E. Cummings) – 2:42
#"Heirloom" (Björk, Console) – 5:14
#"Harm of Will" (Björk, Sigsworth, Harmony Korine) – 4:38
#"Unison" (Björk) – 6:47
#"Generous Palmstroke" (Björk, Zeena Parkins) (Japanese bonus track) – 4:24

amples

tatements by Björk about this album

"It sounds like a winter record. If you wake up in the middle of the night, and you go out in the garden, everything's going on out there that you wouldn't know about. That's the mood I'm trying to get. Snow owls represent that very well."

"I was bored of big beats. I'd listened a lot of it, to drill'n'bass, a lot of Rephlex stuff, the most mental cut-up shit that you could find. This is more electronic folk music, music for the home. It's corny to make a soundtrack for making a sandwich, but I quite like it. For so long I wanted to whisper. It was a watercolour as opposed to an oil. But 'Pagan Poetry' was the last song I did, and I was hungry for something physical again."

"I was collecting together all the noises that I know that are like hibernating and that sound like the inside of your head. I guess 'Vespertine' for me was going really, really, really internal and trying to make music with huffs and whispering and music boxes."

"Vespertine is little insects rising from the ashes."

Personnel

*Björk – producer, programming, beat programming, basslines, string arrangements, choir arrangements, harp arrangements, music box arrangements, vocal editing
*Valgeir Sigurðsson – programming, beat programming, ProTools, engineer
*Martin Gretschmann aka Console (musician) – producer, programming
*Jake Davies – programming, ProTools, engineer
*Matthew Herbert – programming
*Leigh Jamieson – ProTools
*Thomas Knak – production, programming
*Jan "Stan" Kybert – ProTools
*Matmos – programming, beat programming
*Vince Mendoza – string arrangements, choir arrangements, orchestration
*Zeena Parkins – harp, harp arrangements
*Jack Perron – adaptation to music box
*Guy Sigsworth – programming, beat programming, celeste, celeste arrangements, clavichord, clavichord arrangements, choir arrangements
*Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
*Damian Taylor – programming, beat programming, ProTools
*Caryl Thomas – harp
*Marius de Vries – producer, programming, beat programming
*M/M (Paris) – art direction, design and illustration
*Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin – photography
*Patrick Gowers – Composer of Vocal and Organ Arrangements on "Unison"
*St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, conducted by John Scott – Choir on "Unison"

Charts

References

External links

* [http://unit.bjork.com/specials/albums/vespertine/index.htm Vespertine mini-site]