Björk’s video for “Lionsong,” from her new album Vulnicura, debuts today. Watch the clip, directed by longtime Björk collaborators and legendary creative duo Inez & Vinoodh, via Noisey HERE: http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/read/video-premiere-bjork-lionsong
Of the video, Inez & Vinoodh note, “Björk’s character for ‘Lionsong’ had to be smooth like a spider waiting in her web and seductive like a Balinese dancer cast in bronze. She is seen as if under a microscope, baring her heart while luring us inside the bloody galaxy of her own wound.”
The video was created in collaboration between Björk, Inez & Vinoodh and visual effects production house Framestore. Framestore created a number of visual effects, including the stars and the glowing embers that surround Björk, as well as enhancing the video’s other-worldliness by extending her legs to unnatural proportions. The exquisite coloring for the piece was done by Tim Masick of Company 3, turning her into the exotic, red-toothed, bronze dancer.
“Inez & Vinoodh had some fantastic ideas about what they wanted and supplied some beautiful initial reference, that had a painterly style not dissimilar to traditional religious iconography, of characters covered in starlight,” says Framestore’s Matt Pascuzzi, “That, along with their existing album artwork, gave us some pretty beautiful reference to work from and I am immensely proud of our New York compositing and 3D teams who, in every sense, did this job for the art.”
Vulnicura is on One Little Indian Records to massive critical acclaim:
“Even amid the most abstruse music, these songs have an emotional immediacy. The physicality of Björk’s voice and the strings are even more striking against the impersonal electronic sounds, all the better to reveal the interior landscape of heartbreak and healing — not a simple story, and all the better for it.” – New York Times
“…with Björk, even simplicity is intricate business. Arranged for voice with orchestral strings and electronic beats, Vulnicura is a unified set of nine dark, swarming, melodically distended songs…this may be the most heart-rending music she’s ever made.” – Rollingstone
“What the Icelandic art star Bjork has accomplished at the intersection of pop and the avant-garde cannot be summed up in one detail, but one thing to focus on is the way she sings the word “emotional.” Climbing it like one of the cliffs she often evokes in her pastoral lyrics, she lets it open up like a vista on its central, circulatory “o.” The word becomes a Valkyrie’s cry, a statement of purpose both sacred and humanly thrilling.” – NPR
“The artist’s most personal record in a career full of vocal and emotional drama…it’s an exquisite, inspired and typically angular listen, filled with much texture and impatient roaming, with musical and vocal tones built into spatial structures that fearlessly trace the lyrical ordeals…fans like myself will find much to love as we explore its many peaks and valleys.” – Los Angeles Times
“8.6 – Best New Music” – Pitchfork
Vulnicura was written, produced and recorded in collaboration with Venezuelan producer Arca and British musician The Haxan Cloak. Of the album’s nine tracks, six are written by Björk with two co-written with Arca and one co-written with Spaces. Six songs are produced by Björk and Arca, one by Björk, Arca and The Haxan Cloak and two by Björk alone. All string arrangements are by Björk. The album was mixed by The Haxan Cloak and engineered by Chris Elms, with two songs mixed by The Haxan Cloak and Elms, and mastered by Mandy Parnell. Vulnicura is Björk’s first release since the 2011 album and multimedia project Biophilia.
VULNICURA – Tracklist:
1. Stonemilker
2. Lionsong
3. History of Touches
4. Black Lake
5. Family
6. Notget
7. Atom Dance
8. Mouth Mantra
9. Quicksand
Vulnicura – CD out today on One Little Indian Records, proudly distributed by Rhythmethod
Björk Official
Björk Facebook
Björk Twitter
NZ Media Contact The Label NZ:
Lisa Paris lisa@thelabel.co.nz
Lucy Macrae lucy@thelabel.co.nz
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