Album Breakdown: “Vespertine” by Björk

Collage By Francelis Espinal

By Francelis Espinal

When one thinks of romantic love, their thoughts naturally flow to one of the five love languages—physical touch, quality time, gift giving, acts of service, and words of affirmation—or to that one person whom they hold dearest to their hearts. This was Björk in 1999 when she got into her new relationship with film director Matthew Barney. When Björk decided to translate intoxicating love chemicals into the love language of speech and mixed in her unique talent of music production, 2001's “Vespertine” was born.

Born on the 21 of Nov. in 1965 in Reykjavík, Iceland, Björk Guðmundsdóttir always had a passion for creating music, debuting her first cover album in 1977 at the young age of 12. Björk is a talented singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. She is constantly breaking barriers in the music industry and inspiring many popular artists such as Rosalía, Arca, Kanye West, Hayley Williams, Charli XCX, Amy Lee, Missy Elliot, FKA Twigs, Solange, Travis Scott, SZA, Donald Glover, JPEGMAFIA, and more.

Her 4th studio album, “Vespertine”—first released in Japan on Aug. 18, 2001, then later released in the U.S. just 9 days later—is critically acclaimed by many major music publications such as Rolling Stone, NME, and Pitchfork for its intimate production and lyricism, even topping charts on Billboard and going gold in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom.

Some even call Vespertine the best album in Björk's entire discography, and the best album of 2001, due to how the record flawlessly carries the themes of love, sexuality, intimacy, and eroticism; all of which she makes very distinct in her song writing in songs such as "Cocoon" and "Pagan Poetry." Björk claims in her 2001 Insound Vespertine interview, this album is "shy and micro” compared to her previous albums which are the exact opposite, loud and attention seeking. The keyword for the production of this album is micro-beats; Björk wanted to find sounds that were quiet and subtle and later amplify them. She worked with the smallest sounds possible such as cards shuffling and ice-cracking in order to replicate the sensation of vulnerability with another person or seeing a body cell magnified. 

On an emotional level, this was the first time Björk found herself interested in emotional peaks that were quiet and slow. She was usually drawn to big and dramatic shifts in her feelings (like anger and excitement), but moving away from that intensity helped her shape Vespertine into a cozy, intimate experience, similar to cuddling with your partner in a winter wonderland. Björk states in her 2001 documentary “Minuscule” that she created a persona for this album (seen in the cover art for “Vespertine (Live)”)  which she describes as “a lady hibernating in the winter, a domestic creature that prepares and plays instruments like harps and celeste,” showing her creative process and artistic vision she had planned for this record. 

Now, let's break down my top five favorite songs on the album. I highly recommend you listen to all of Vespertine in order to get the full experience of these heaven-sent songs.

 1. Hidden Place: The first track of the album and lead single, “Hidden Place”, opens with an eccentric mixture of a cut-up lo-fi melody and deep bass inspired by glitch music. In her 2001 CDNOW interview, Björk describes this song to be about "how two people can create a paradise by just uniting"; an emotional, make believe, location that is mutual and unbreakable. “Hidden Place” is about a secluded romantic connection that was made by two people recently falling in love and going to that hidden sanctuary. The instrumental of this song includes a breath-taking harmonization of a women's choir to the melody of the song. The music video for “Hidden Place” includes up close, personal shots of Björk's face as liquids flow throughout her facial orifices such as eyes and nose. Based on a 2001 Reservocation Magazine interview with M/M (Paris), who co-directed the music video, the liquids are meant to represent all her emotions traveling and circulating throughout her occupied brain while the intense and close range shot of her face was meant to portray Björk as a “real” human.

2. Cocoon: If I could describe this song in one sentence, it would be the romantic connection of intercourse in audio. “Cocoon”, in Björk's words, is about a woman describing in intense detail her sexual experience with her partner during their post-coital hibernation. The song includes explicit and metaphorical sexual narratives. The production of this record includes an electronic click-pop sound made with a synth and a soft, almost warm, melancholic piano loop all mixed with her almost whisper-like vocals. Michael Cragg stated in his "10 of the best: Bjork" article for The Guardian that Björk's vocals were "near-cracking falsetto and a breathy ecstasy." In the music video (which I believe to be meaningfully eerie), Björk is dressed in a tight white body suit which showcases the features of her nude body, red strings start to come out from her breasts as they wrap around her entire body which end up with her wrapped like an actual cocoon. The video was banned from MTV due to the depiction of her naked body.

3. It's Not Up to You: Björk’s vocals in this song are so painfully gorgeous and strong, especially mixed with the women’s choir again (The choir is scattered throughout this entire album). “It’s Not Up to You” is about wanting to desperately have control of everything in your life but eventually having to come to the realization that you have to let go of that perfectionist mindset and expectations in order to relax and live life at peace. “I can decide what I give/ But it's not up to me/What I get given/Unthinkable surprises are about to happen/But what they are” is a lyric that speaks very deeply to me because Björk is explaining that you can do everything possible in your control but no matter what you do or how you do it, you can't predict the future or the outcome of how a situation will end. This can also be connected with the central theme of the album: romance and love. When you first start talking to someone, there isn't a script you can follow that will one hundred percent solidify a relationship or second date because everyone is different. You can't create a schedule and believe everything will go well just because you followed that schedule. It’s (literally) not up to you if the universe decides that you two are meant to be, just go along with it and unwind. 

4. Pagan Poetry: Her most scandalous music video to date and is what many associate with this song, “Pagan Poetry” is about battling with the urge to fully surrender your entire mind, body, and soul to someone's love and maintaining your individual freedom. It is an intimate exploration between devotion, self-preservation, surrender, and vulnerability. Björk speaks about how the intensity of loving someone can awaken you from a deep emotional hibernation while using metaphors of morse codes, physical patterns, and devotion in a ritualistic way. Björk blends crystalline music box melodies with electronic micro-beats, harps, and the women’s choir supporting her vocals. The “Pagan Poetry” music video includes highly stylized and blurred footage of Björk’s sex tape, being pierced with pearls, and Björk singing in the bridal dress by Alexander McQueen, which was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). 

The director of the music video, Nick Knight, stated on NME, “I wanted to strip her down. She’s actually quite raw, womanly and sexy. There’s a different side to her that doesn’t come across normally in her videos…She wanted to show her sexuality…But it’s not tribal or S&M—It’s about a woman's love for a man.” I believe it was done perfectly because when you watch the music video, it does not look nor feel like one of those explicit videos, it feels like you are sharing that emotional, raw, physical connection with Björk. The music video ended up being banned by MTV in the United States but after a while was aired unedited on MTV2, when they presented “20 Most Controversial Music Videos.” 

5. Frosti: “Frosti” is Vespertine’s interlude, a short pause between songs which is normally instrumental. Although there isn't much to say about a one minute and 41 second music box, it is just so magical. Frosti was created by a custom made plexiglass music box. Björk explained in her 2002 Record Collector #276 interview, she wanted to achieve that hard, almost frozen, sound instead of the soft sound made from a regular wooden music box (this specific statement was regarding “Pagan Poetry” but it is known that Björk used this music box throughout the entire production of Vespertine). This song is the auditory embodiment of soft winter snow falling from the sky, a frozen winter palace, pictures of the Christmas season from childhood, and laying down on fresh clean snow in the middle of the forest—feeling its softness and coldness on your skin. 

Björk’s “Vespertine” is such a beautifully emotional and genuine album. It is a unique record that I doubt you will ever encounter again. Björk always puts effort and creativity into her albums and visual creations. Vespertine is a great example of what this woman is capable of doing with her soft feelings of love and romance. If you liked Vespertine and want to expand more into Björk’s discography, I would suggest listening to Debut and Homogenic. Homogenic is in many ways the opposite of Vespertine but it still has all of those electronic elements in the music production and strong vocals, especially “Joga”. Debut is a mixture of slow love songs and dance pop (“Come to Me” and “Like Someone In Love” are my recommendations similar to Vespertine). I would give Vespertine a ten out of ten because it’s one of those albums that you just want to carry around on you at all times and continuously recommend to others.