Björk - Vulnicura

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 ever heard as well as being so gifted with being able to associate herself with multiple genres with amazing results!

I can never predict which direction she's going to approach with each album, which is always fun to find out and see what cinematic world she develops along the way. For Vulnicura, it's a musical combination of electronic, avant-garde, ambient & art pop, which is always a strong sign this will be hypnotic as hell.

Yes, indeed it was! 58mins of thunderous & atmospheric soundscapes drenched in emotional heartbreak and the healing process in such vivid glory.

The production is what I predicted it to be, which is hypnotic with a slice of abrasive rhythms that get the heartrate accelerating in your chest. The orchestral elements that can be heard from time to time are glorious and mesh together beautifully with the raw power of Arca's production.

It's a good sign that this would go hard since Arca, who has become one of my favourite producers of all-time in the last year, is featured as a producer on most of the album. Her complex sound design just draws you in with the multiple harsh textures that can be heard, with each track feeling like a universe of its own.

Björk's vocals are spectacular yet again, delivering that exact range of vulnerability while demonstrating her process of healing from the breakup with gradual empowerment. Her voice is just bursting with flavour and chemistry that it's easy to get hooked onto.

Even if this album takes a while to get into, Vulnicura is a powerful personal work from the Icelandic singer that demonstrates her talents to full effect, with the use of hypnotic soundscales to capture the process of heartbreak in a way that just reels you in.