Vulnicura honors her pain and the necessary path through and away from loss with some of her bravest, most challenging, and most engaging music.
Björk has never compromised her sound to anyone, and Vulnicura is a stark reminder of that.
Vulnicura is stark and powerful in a way that Björk has merely danced around for years. Here, in these songs, she has shed all of her skin
Vulnicura is smooth and whole, even as its singer lies shattered.
Vulnicura is Björk’s most pronounced, explicit statement of intimacy yet.
Each successive listen, whether focusing on the nakedly personal lyrics or the beautiful if complex music reveals another facet.
Far greater than the sum of its parts, Vulnicura can be a challenge but, once immersed, it's hard to tear yourself away.
Vulnicura is the black mirror reflection of the sensual Vespertine, and like that record, it is one of Björk’s strongest to date.
In turning to explore themes of human nature, Vulnicura delivers much more on a musical and lyrical level than your archetypal breakup record typically does.
The enormous visceral power of Vulnicura lies perhaps in its utter lack of pity play; rather, Björk transforms every emotion into a monumental sonic peak or valley.
Vulnicura feels, overall, as if it is one of Björk’s most successful albums, one where she mostly finds sonic strategies that are well matched with her concepts and themes.
Vulnicura marks a bold return for such a storied singer.
This narrative thread seems to have focussed Björk's compositional powers, and Vulnicura has a momentum and coherence lacking in her recent efforts.
It’s simultaneously her most mature feat of arranging and almost psychosomatically affecting.
The musical moments that capture Björk’s heartbreak are frequently stunning on Vulnicura, but the whole thing is a little shy on hooks and reasons to take the grueling journey with her often.
Vulnicura is very clearly a break-up album, perhaps the most unflinching, honest account of the deterioration of a relationship by a major artist in memory.
On Björk’s previous albums, her phrasing conveys a joyful and unrestrainable lust for life; on Vulnicura, it instead brings a desperate plea for emotional clarity.
Icelandic singer, songwriter, producer Björk is back with another record, and it's one filled with romantic heartbreak and whimsical instrumentation.
After the wild beach party of 2007’s Volta and the shiny wonders of 2011’s Biophilia, Vulnicura is a windswept trek of a record. But one which gradually repays its difficulties with the raw exhilaration of survival.
Vulnicura is a tough, fairly uncompromising listen and the austere lyrics are sometimes almost too much to handle, but it's a compelling album and one of Bjork's best.
Arranged for voice with orchestral strings and electronic beats, Vulnicura is a unified set of nine dark, swarming, melodically distended songs.
These nine ballads are stripped to essentials - beats, strings, stirring vocals - full of beautiful and eerie contrasts that highlight Björk's loneliness, anger and fleeting moments of optimism.
Despite their meticulous craft, these songs don't feel like curated artefacts--they feel raw, unquiet, still moving. Vulnicura might tell an old story, but it still feels new.
You could say there’s something gimlet-eyed about a woman who realises her relationship is collapsing and automatically thinks: still, great material. But it’s nothing if not honest. And besides, on the evidence of Vulnicura, she has a point.
‘Vespertine’ is a master-work by my reckoning, an emotionally resonant record that truly articulated the innermost desires of its maker in a way that felt less intrusive, more inclusive.
Her ninth record ... is the obligatory break-up album, one sung with extraordinarily renewed power. It hardly seems like a conscious uncoupling: the Icelandic diva bleeds utter devastation, drenched in strings and despair.
Vulnicura doesn't have the reach-out-and-grab-your-attention quality of Björk's more technicolor works, but it possesses a dramatic weight in its own right.
It’s not an easy listen, but a brave, beautiful and affecting album – an attempt to find order in chaos that, as she wishes for it, offers a “crutch” to the heartbroken.
Vulnicura is emotionally bare and, as a result, remarkably complex, demanding of an active listener, but it’s also one of Björk’s most poetic records in a long career.
If Vulnicura never truly allows us in close, it’s still a beautifully tragic view from the edge of the ‘black hole’.
Vulnicura is gruesome because of its trying structure, abandoning accessibility for labyrinthine ideas that casually stumble off-course.
One listen to Vulnicura confirms what's been evident for a long time, but will still continue to come as a disappointment for many: Björk firmly belongs to the world of the avant-garde.
A belief in music's healing power is the driving force of Vulnicura.
This is the definition of a breakup album. Where the fuck is Matthew Barney? Prolly hiding with Mario Abusah in the pit of assholes, forgotten by the world. I want to punch him after listening to this. Where is he?
Björk is a legend in the music community, a legend of whose albums i have never listened to, but indeed, a legend. And this proves it. The amount of emotion, of pain and anger that you feel as you sail across this tragic page/story of her life & her breakup with Matthew, ... read more
Our Icelandic queen slays yet again!
Released in January 2015, Björk's 8th album Vulnicura is one of her most personal records of her career. Recorded over the span of 2 years (2012-2014), she expresses the emotion she felt before & after she split up with American musican / arthouse filmmaker Matthew Barney (known for the 2014 experimental film River of Fundament).
Björk is one of the most extraordinary musicians to grace the industry, having one of the most unique voices I've ... read more
[Björk Album Discography Dive #8/10 - Vulnicura (2015)]
When it comes down to break-up albums my mind goes straight to clichéd acoustic guitars, corny lyric delivery, and super generic pop melodies and hooks. Björk on the other hand, in typical Björk fashion, creates a breathtaking, kaleidoscopic, brain-melting, and sonically unreal break-up album.
Vulnicura is probably Björk’s most personal album up to this point, focusing mainly on her emotions leading up ... read more
Is that a vagina on your shirt or are you just happy to see me?
Compared to Bjork’s previous album, “Biophilia”, “Vulnicura” is far less adventurous, far less conceptual, and features far less creative arrangements.
Many of the songs sound the same with pretty much the same atmosphere.
Both the strings and electronics featured throughout the album are fairly generic and unexpressive.
There are a few exceptions, like whatever instrument is being used on part of ... read more
32/50 Road to 1000 Albums
Another heartbreaking album release by Bjork after going through a hard breakup...
This one even though it was released after her very iconic years is an album that could still compete among her best, the production is top notch, making you feel like you went through it and the lyrics are just heart-wrenching that it could be compared to her vespertine tracks.
Very good album!
BJÖRK DISCOGRAPHY DIVE - PART 7: Vulnicura
Her breakup album and it's a really unique one.
The lyrics are so sad and they're extremely well written. And I love the whole concept of there being times given for songs. I'm not a fan of the sudden concept switch on the last two songs though.
And for the record, the music is lovely too. Stonemilker and Atom Dance have some of the best string work I've ever heard. And I also really love the instrumental on Notget and the Terraria Underworld ... read more
1 | Stonemilker 6:49 | 96 |
2 | Lionsong 6:08 | 93 |
3 | History of Touches 3:00 | 89 |
4 | Black Lake 10:08 | 95 |
5 | Family 8:02 | 92 |
6 | Notget 6:26 | 92 |
7 | Atom Dance 8:09 feat. ANOHNI | 89 |
8 | Mouth Mantra 6:09 | 87 |
9 | Quicksand 3:45 | 90 |
#1 | / | Rough Trade |
#2 | / | Crack Magazine |
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#3 | / | Drowned in Sound |
#3 | / | The 405 |
#4 | / | Bleep |
#4 | / | Clash |
#5 | / | Dazed |
#5 | / | musicOMH |
#5 | / | Resident Advisor |