Vulnicura

Background and recording

After completing the tour for her previous project Biophilia (2011), which featured a series of apps and instruments created especially for the live show, Björk expressed interest in using the same instruments for her next project. She told The Independent: "I happen to know some of the best app programmers in the world, and I have the instruments I can just plug straight into the iPad and play whatever I have. So it seems kind of natural to work on an album where I don't have three years of prepping. But at the same time, it is a kind of extreme project."

In May 2013, Björk told the San Francisco Bay Guardian that she was in the early stages of a new album. In the same month, she told the San Francisco Chronicle she had "enough songs that I'm ready to see the next thing".

Venezuelan producer Arca co-produced Vulnicura. Björk approached Arca after his manager sent her Arca's mixtape &&&&& (2013); Arca then DJ'ed at Björk's Biophilia Tour afterparty and the two started working together afterwards. Björk was not aware of Arca's work with Kanye West and FKA twigs (on Yeezus and EP2, 2013) but she soon appreciated it along with Arca's knowledge of her own discography. Arca described working with Björk, which he refers as a musical inspiration, as "healing", and said: "The way she exists as a human is a big influence on the way I exist as a human."

On 7 October 2014, Björk announced on her Facebook page that she would not attend the British premiere of her concert film Björk: Biophilia Live at the BFI London Film Festival because she was too busy working on the album, and confirmed a 2015 release date. British musician and producer The Haxan Cloak announced on Twitter on 6 January 2015 that he had worked on the album, calling the collaboration "an honour".

On 14 January 2015, Björk posted a handwritten note on her Facebook page announcing the album's title, Vulnicura, its track list and a March 2015 release date. Vulnicura means "Cure for Wounds" (Vulnus + Cura), and Björk described it as "a more traditional album than Biophilia for what concerns songwriting. It's about what may come to a person at the end of a relationship. It talks about the dialogues we may have in our heads and in our hearts, the healing processes."

The music on Vulnicura has been described by critics as incorporating elements of electronic, avant-garde, and ambient music.

The album is primarily composed of string arrangements and electronic beats, as a return to the sound Björk pursued on her 1997 album Homogenic. In an interview with Pitchfork, Björk exposed how working on string arrangements served as a way to keep her mind busy after her breakup: "The only way I could deal with that was to start writing for strings; I decided to become a violin nerd and arrange everything for 15 strings and take a step further."

The involvement of Arca came in late stages of the writing process, which Björk described as "such a contrast, the most fun music-making I've ever had, with the most tragic subject matter [...] I just sat next to [Arca] for weeks, and we did the whole album. It's the quickest I've ever worked [...] It's one of those crazy things in life where people from opposite ends meet, and you've got so much to teach each other."

Release and artwork

On 18 January 2015, just days after being publicly announced, and two months ahead of its scheduled release, a supposed full version of the album leaked online. At the time, no official release date or cover art was confirmed, neither was announced the featuring of Anohni on "Atom Dance". The illegal leak was compared to the one that happened to Madonna and her album Rebel Heart, whose several songs in their demo form were leaked online during late 2014.

The album's release date was pushed up to 20 January, becoming available as a digital download.

After release, Vulnicura has topped the iTunes charts in over 30 countries and spent seven days at the no. 1 spot in worldwide iTunes album chart.

The artwork was designed by longtime collaborators M/M (Paris). The digital cover, was photographed by also longtime collaborators Inez and Vinoodh: "She said she wanted to have a wound on her body, on her heart area, in an abstract way [...] Imagine you're Mata Hari, a seductress, but you're wounded, and there is an incredibly alluring softness around you." On the cover, Björk wears a black latex suit, a wound on her chest and a headpiece made of quills, which she already wore during the last stages of her Biophilia Tour. Björk clarified that, during the time in between the two albums, the Vulnicura cover character started surfacing. The main color of the artwork is yellow, since Björk links this color to the "healing" process. The photo shoot was filmed and transformed into a music video to accompany the album track "Lionsong".

For the physical release, a second cover art was made by Andrew Thomas Huang. In the deluxe edition, the artwork comes in the shape of an acetate slipcase. This artwork was also transformed into a short music video for the track "Family".

To coincide with all of Björk's previous albums being reissued on limited edition colored vinyl for the MoMA retrospective, Vulnicura was later issued in a limited run of double neon yellow LPs.

Media coverage

Being the follow-up to Biophilia after more than three years, Vulnicura's release was highly anticipated. Online music publications like Music Times, Time Out, FasterLouder, Gigwise, FACT, Dazed Digital, Pitchfork and Billboard included it in their list of the most anticipated albums of 2015, with Stereogum and Diffuser.fm ranking it as the tenth and seventh most anticipated album of 2015, respectively. DIY listed the upcoming release as one of the eleven reasons to get excited about 2015, while NME included Björk in their list of 40 most anticipated comebacks for 2015.

Although not initially intended, the album was included in the Björk retrospective exhibition at the MoMA. Music videos for the tracks "Lionsong" and "Black Lake" were premiered there. The video for "Stonemilker" premiered at MoMA PS1 on 22 March.

On 17 December 2015, Björk appeared on the podcast Song Exploder (Episode 60) where she detailed the creation of Vulnicura's opening track, "Stonemilker". "It's about someone who's trying to get emotions out of another person," she said. "I think it's equally hard for all of us and we're just all doing our best but I think there's also a choice. Do you want to try and then maybe fail half of the time and then succeed half of the time or whatever your odds are? Or is it your choice to not even try?" On the creation of the song: "I was walking on a beach, and I was kind of walking back and forth and the lyrics kind of came along kind of without me really editing them.... (They're) probably the most obvious lyrics I've ever written. I actually wrote a whole other lyric to this song, which was really maybe a bit too clever for its own good but something in me said, 'No, don't touch it. It has to be, like, almost clumsy or naive.' That's sort of the strength and weakness of the song at the same time." When talking about the string arrangements for "Stonemilker", Björk said, "For me it was very important... that the strings were kind of cyclical; this chord cycle that kind of gives you this feeling it can go on and on in circles and gives you this feeling of equilibrium. Like the person who's singing this song is showing some sort of harmony to someone as an example... I had 30 players, and then I would do 2 sets of arrangements so basically there are, in theory, 60 because it needed that sort of panoramic feeling to have that sort of smooth, cream-like perfection." On her collaboration with beat maker and co-producer Arca, "... it was very obvious that song was very simple so we didn't really need a crazy beat thing going on. It just had to be really supportive of the song, and almost acoustic like it's a symphony orchestra playing and the beat would come from the kettledrum or something. You know? Like a very soft support which Alejandro (Arca) provided."

Music videos

The first video produced for Vulnicura was "Black Lake", directed by Andrew Thomas Huang who previously collaborated with Björk on Biophilia's "Mutual Core" video in 2012. It was announced that the video would debut at MoMA's Björk retrospective in March 2015 in an elaborate video installation. A trailer for the retrospective premiered on the MoMA's YouTube channel on 13 February 2015. The trailer is a single shot of a nude Björk lying on a black dirt field with her body literally split in half, while the official video has the singer walking through a black Icelandic cave in an original Iris Van Herpen dress. In explaining the evolution of the "Black Lake" video project, Björk said, "I think me and Andrew kept wanting the song to be rawer and rawer and more and more without special effects: to go totally "Ingmar Bergman" on it. So the "book cover" ended up being a book cover....." While the MoMA "Black Lake" installation consisted of 2 screens showcasing complementary edits of the 10-minute video, the final music video version, which debuted on Dazed Digital on 10 June 2015, is a composite of both videos. The Haxan Cloak, who co-produced the Vulnicura track "Family", created a special mix of the song to accompany the video.

To celebrate the opening of the MoMA show and the upcoming physical release of the album, Björk announced on Facebook the "Stonemilker" 360-degree virtual reality music video. It utilized the Oculus Rift, a VR head-mounted display, and featured the singer on the same Icelandic beach where she originally wrote the song. The video premiered at MoMA's sister location, the MoMA PS1 on 22 March and was briefly made available to customers of the record shop Rough Trade in London and Brooklyn, NY who purchased the physical album. The VR head-set version of the video featured a strings only mix of the song. Bjork explained, "I had recorded the strings with a clip-on mike on each instrument. We have made a different mix where we have fanned this in an intimate circle around the listener." It was later released as a 360-degree YouTube video on 6 June 2015 featuring the original album mix.

Also, at the Cinema room of the MoMA retrospective, as part of Björk's videography, the "Lionsong" video was premiered by surprise. The video, directed by the Dutch creative duo Inez & Vinoodh, directors of Björk's "Hidden Place" and "Moon" videos, was later made available to the general public through Noisey. "Lionsong" was conceived of spontaneously during the Vulnicura album cover photo shoot.

On 16 March 2015, the day of Vulnicura's physical release, a "moving album cover" video premiered online featuring the CGI character of the deluxe edition artwork created by Huang. Björk conceived of the video, which is set to a condensed edit of the track "Family", as the completion of the "Black Lake" video. Huang explained, "She came back to me because she (felt) that (what was shown in Black Lake) was only 50% of that character, and that there's another 50% of this persona that she's been in for this past year-and-a-half to two years, that is much more positive and resolved in itself."

In December 2015, the music video for "Mouth Mantra" - directed by Arca's longtime collaborator Jesse Kanda - was revealed. Much of the video takes place inside Björk's mouth with the help of hi-tech mouth models and a special camera. And, like "Stonemilker", the video will soon be made available for 360-degree viewing.

On 4 June 2016, the virtual reality video for the song "Notget" debuted at the Carriageworks Festival in Sydney, Australia for the premiere of the VR exhibition Björk Digital. As Björk Digital traveled the world, new videos would debut, such as "Quicksand" in October 2016 at Montreal and a full VR version of "Family" in November 2016 in Reykjavik.

On 3 April 2017, the 2d version of "Notget" debuted on YouTube. "Quicksand" and the full version of "Family" have not premiered in 2d or VR online and are only available to view at Björk Digital though in an interview with Starpro in Mexico, Björk revealed there are still plans to offer the full "Vulnicura VR" experience for download on mobile devices. She also revealed no further VR videos are being planned, meaning the songs "History of Touches" and "Atom Dance" will not receive accompanying music videos.

While videos were made for the above songs to promote the album, no official single was released.

Vulnicura remix series

On 9 July 2015, Dazed Digital unveiled the first of a 3 part series of Vulnicura remixes. Series 1 features the first of two Lotic remixes of the track "Notget" (the Keptsafe version), a "Family" remix by Katie Gately, a remix of "History of Touches" by Krampfhaft, and a remix of "Lionsong" by Mica Levi. Levi explained her Karaoke-inspired version: "I did a karaoke version more than a remix, because I love her string arrangements and thought it would be an opportunity to draw attention to them."

The second series debuted on 22 July and features a Choral mix of "Lionsong" created by Björk herself. She sampled an early track by UNTOLD and utilized the Icelandic female choir Graduale Nobili, which had previously performed on Björk's Biophilia. The 2nd wave also includes "History of Touches", the Rabit Naked Mix, and The Haxan Cloak's remix of "Mouth Mantra". The Haxan Cloak co-produced and mixed Vulnicura, and stated, "When it came time to start thinking about prepping for the live shows, Björk asked me if there were any songs I'd like to remix for playing live – instantly I thought of (Mouth Mantra). I wanted to keep the core of the song but just really amp up the drama and intensity to 11... I then decided to refine the live remix for a more studio/headphone listening environment, so that's what you hear now." A fourth remix, Lotic's Fromdeath version of "Notget" was later released as a vinyl exclusive mix.

The final Vulnicura remix series debuted on 2 October and features 4 new remixes: "Black Lake" and "Family" remixes by Bloom, "Lionsong", the Juliana Huxtable Remix, and "Stonemilker", the Patten Rework. Björk capped off the Vulnicura remix series by stating, "I would like to thank especially Robin Carolan for co-curating this with me. Its been such a pleasure!!!" in a note published on Dazed with the 3rd wave's digital release.

Eventually all 12 remixes were released on vinyl through One Little Indian in 12 limited edition single-sided etched translucent 12" records in die-cut sleeves. The 3rd vinyl remix series was released on 20 November 2015. Each vinyl single managed to chart on the Official Charts Company Physical Singles and Vinyl Singles Sales in the UK. On the physical single chart "History of Touches" peaked at #20, "Mouth Mantra" peaked at #30, "Black Lake" peaked at #31, "Stone Milker" at #35, "Family" at #18 and the highest peaking "Lionsong" at #12. On the vinyl singles chart "History of Touches" peaked at #12, "Mouth Mantra" at #16, "Black Lake" at #17, "Stone Milker" at #21, "Lionsong" at #10, and "Family" at #13.

Vulnicura Strings

On 6 November 2015, Vulnicura Strings (Vulnicura: The Acoustic Version – Strings, Voice and Viola Organista Only), or simply Vulnicura Strings, was released, featuring eight of Vulnicura's nine tracks in strings only renditions in what has been described as a more uncompromising and intimate take on Vulnicura. It features the same vocals as the studio album but without the beats of co-producers Arca and The Haxan Cloak. The album includes additional string arrangements by Una Sveinbjarnardóttir, who was a part of the Icelandic String Octet that joined Björk on stage for her 1998 Homogenic Tour, as well as alternate takes of string arrangements recorded during Vulnicura's original recording sessions that Björk felt were more appropriate for the far more delicate atmosphere of Vulnicura Strings. Additionally, several songs utilize the Viola Organista, a unique instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci but built for the first time centuries later by the Polish musician Sławomir Zubrzycki.

Björk stated on her Facebook page, "While I was working on Vulnicura, it became one of the most magical thing(s) both musically and spiritually to unite the electronics and the acoustic instruments in an almost romantic way: to prove they can coexist!!... But while working on it I felt somehow for the first time, this was an album that could take another version: a reveal, to simply have the acoustics stand on their own for the folks who wanna indulge even further into the wooden timeless side of this music. With no techno." This project is Björk's first completely acoustic studio album.

Live performances

On 7 January 2015, Björk was announced as one of the performers of the 2015 Governors Ball. It was her first confirmed appearance since the conclusion of the Biophilia Tour and her first concert in New York City since 2012. On 16 January 2015, the singer confirmed the upcoming Vulnicura Tour by announcing six dates through March and April in New York, where she performed at the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall and the New York City Center. She later added 2 shows at Brooklyn's Kings Theatre sandwiched in between the Carnegie Hall and City Center shows.

On 8 August 2015, Björk officially announced the abrupt end of the Vulnicura Tour, stating, "These have truly been some of my most sublime moments!! Singing this album has been intense and the internal clock of it different to the other ones. It has sort of had to behave in its own little way. Both the urgency of the leak and now this sudden closure for reasons beyond my control is characteristic of that. I hope through the years I have earned enough tourkarma points to get your support for this." She added, "I have started writing new songs and feel the best most natural pathway to go is to let this beast flow its natural course and start anew." Four upcoming shows were cancelled, making the Vulnicura Tour her first concert not to travel to her native Iceland.

Björk did not do any televised or radio performances to promote Vulnicura and none of the 16 Vulnicura Tour shows are known to have been taped, marking it the only tour of her career not be documented visually.

On 21 September 2016 Björk gave her first of 4 acoustic-only live concerts, beginning at the Royal Albert Hall in London and ending at Harpa in Iceland. These shows follow the format of the original Vulnicura Tour with the first six songs from the album performed uninterrupted with the second half of the show featuring mostly songs from her back catalogue. A show scheduled for 29 March 2017 in Mexico City is expected to follow the acoustic format. A second Mexico date is set for 1 April 2017 when Björk will headline the Ceremonia Festival in Tolcua.

Björk Digital

On 31 May 2016, Björk announced on her official Facebook page Björk Digital, an 18-month world traveling VR experience that debuted at Carriageworks in Sydney, Australia, on 3 June 2016. The VR music video for Vulnicura's final narrative track, "Notget" debuted at the festival, which also showcased the VR videos for "Stonemilker" and "Mouth Mantra", the latter of which also debuting in VR after premiering months earlier in 2D on YouTube in December 2015.

In addition to the VR experience, attendees of Björk Digital will experience a recreation of the "Black Lake" instillation, which debuted at MoMA's Björk retrospective in March 2015. Other carryovers from MoMA include the Cinema Room showcasing the majority of the singer's music videos in HD and elements from Biophilia although Björk Digital will feature touch screens enabling patrons to experiment with the Biophilia apps rather than having the Biophilia instruments programmed by the venue on a fixed schedule.

The opening nights of Björk Digital in Sydney saw Björk DJ for 5 hours. This opening night party continued at the Miraikan in Tokyo, Japan, for the second leg of the Björk Digital VR experience. The exhibit is expected to travel the globe with dates and locations to be announced though it has not been confirmed that the Icelandic singer will DJ at every opening party.

On 27 June 2016 Björk made history by appearing in the first ever virtual reality live stream. Broadcast on YouTube, she performed Vulnicura's final song, "Quicksand", before a small audience and the footage will be incorporated into the "Quicksand" VR music video, which according to her Facebook announcement is the final video for the Vulnicura VR experience. The video was available to view in full 360-degrees after the live stream but was made private shortly thereafter with the promise by its creators that the footage will resurface in the completed video in the near future.

Vulnicura Live

On 22 October 2015, record shop Rough Trade announced an exclusive release entitled Vulnicura Live, a collection of 14 songs selected and mixed by Björk that were recorded throughout her 2015 Vulnicura Tour. The 2xCD and 2xLP sets are limited to 1000 copies per format and available exclusively through Rough Trade. The CD edition was released on 13 November 2015 and comes with 4 photo prints in a clear plastic sleeve. The LP set consisted of 2 picture discs and was released on 20 November 2015, 2 weeks ahead of its originally announced date of December 4.

Both sets sold out online in less than a week but limited quantities of both formats were available at Rough Trade shops throughout London and Brooklyn, NY on release date. The first 100 people to preorder the vinyl received a wristband that got them into a special DJ set with Björk and Arca at the Rough Trade East store in London. The event took place on Halloween night, 2015.

On 15 July 2016, a standard "commercial" release of Vulnicura Live was released by One Little Indian featuring 13 of the same tracks as the Rough Trade exclusive (excluding "All Neon Like") on both CD and 2xLP sets, as well as a Luxury Edition Boxset featuring both formats and extras in September 2016.

Critical reception

Vulnicura has been widely acclaimed by critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 87 based on 40 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Many critics have referred to it as her best work in the last decade and the boldest move after 2011's Biophilia. It has also been compared stylistically and thematically to her critically acclaimed albums Homogenic and Vespertine.

Praise has centered around the "emotional honesty and musical daring" used to portray the album's deeply personal themes. The lyrics have been described as some of her "strongest and most moving" and Björk's voice "miraculously expressive".

Accolades

Rough Trade named it their album of the year for 2015, calling it "a truly extraordinary work of art" and describing Björk herself as "an inspirational game-changer, someone we hugely respect and admire."

Rolling Stone also included it in their list of favourite albums of the year, describing it as "the most heart-rending music she's ever made."

Consequence of Sound named it in their list, "Highest Rated Albums of 2015", at number twenty-one, whilst Vice named Vulnicura the 38th best album of 2015, calling it an "interactive art piece".

It placed fifth in a countdown of the year's best albums in The Guardian, who praised Björk's "harrowingly expressive compositions".

The album was described as "brave, beautiful and affecting" by NME and was positioned at number twenty-five on their "Albums of the Year 2015" list.

Cosmopolitan ranked it at number eight on their "The 15 Best Albums of 2015" year-end survey, commenting that the album is "downright uplifting".

Newsday called the album "a singular artistic work to stand against other 'breakup albums' for years to come" and it made it to number thirteen on their "Best Albums of 2015" list.

It also appeared on the "Albums That Defined 2015" list by Chart Attack.

Björk won the International Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards; this was her 5th prize at the annual ceremony.

Vulnicura was nominated for the Best Alternative Music Award at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards; this is Björk's seventh nomination in the category.

It was also nominated for the Album of the Year Award at the AIM Independent Music Awards.

Björk was nominated for the International Producer Of The Year for Vulnicura by The Music Producers Guild.

Moreover, Vulnicura was nominated for the Best Album of 2015 for The Phonofile Nordic Music Prize.

At the Icelandic Music Awards, Vulnicura won Best Album while Björk was named Best Female Artist, Best Songwriter and Best Producer.

Track listing

All tracks written by Björk, except where noted.

Sample credits

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes and Inez&Vinoodh.