Vespertine

Vespertine —in Spanish: Vespertino— is the fourth studio album by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk, released on August 27, 2001., via One Little Indian Records. It was recorded in Spain, Iceland and the United States in 2000; production began during the filming of Dancer in the Dark, which was characterized by conflicts between the singer and director Lars von Trier. Björk , a self-titled coffee table book containing photographs of the singer throughout her career, was released simultaneously with the album. The album reached number 19 on the Billboard 200 in the US and number 8 on the British UK Albums Chart. The album was certified Gold in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom.

Björk wanted to make an album with an intimate, wintery and domestic sound. With the growing popularity of Napster and music downloads, he decided to use instruments whose sound would not be compromised when downloaded and played on a computer: these include the harp -played by Zeena Parkins-, celesta, clavichord and snare drums. music, the latter were made to order; there is also a high presence of string instrument arrangements. On Vespertine, Björk also added "microrhythms" made from the sampling of cards being shuffled and ice breaking, among other homey sounds with the help of the Matmos duo. Lyrically, it revolves around sex and love -sometimes explicitly-, inspired by the singer's new relationship with Matthew Barney. Other lyrical sources include a poem by E. E. Cummings, Sarah Kane's play Crave, and contributor Harmony Korine. The sound of Vespertine reflected Björk's newfound interest in the music of artists such as Thomas Knak, who was also enlisted as a producer.

Vespertine was widely acclaimed by critics. Praise focused on its intimate, erotic mood and sonic experimentation. The record has appeared on various publications lists of the best albums of 2001 and the best albums of the decade, and was often considered Björk's best album to date. The album has come to be considered one of the best ever by publications such as NME, Fnac and the journalist Paul Morley, and is included in the book 1001 Records You Must Hear Before Die.

Development

The initial title for the album was Domestika. A song titled "Domestica" (originally titled "Lost Keys") was included on the B-side of the "Pagan Poetry" single. Björk stated that she decided to call the album "Vespertine" instead of "Domestika" because the title is ideal for the prayerful aspect of the album, when she was searching for something, while she thought "Domestika" was so literally dealing with a domestic element.

Björk used a collection of sampled objects to create rhythms and soundscapes on a number of songs on Vespertine, a card drag on "Cocoon" and "Hidden Place"; snow being shoveled in "Aurora", and ice being pounded and broken in "Frosti". The lyrics for "An Echo, A Stain" are based on the play Crave by Sarah Kane. Björk adapted the lyrics of "Sun in My Mouth" from the poem I Will Wade Out by E. E. Cummings. The word "sea-girls" (marine girls) is changed to "seagulls" (seagulls) and the last lines of the poem are omitted. The instrumentals on "Heirloom" is a Console song titled "Crabcraft". Several advanced CD labeling programs, such as Gracenote, name the song "Heirloom" as "Crabcraft" when the album is put into the computer. The lyrics of "Harm of Will" were written by Harmony Korine and are supposedly about Will Oldham, an American folk/country singer and actor. The last song on the album, "Unison", uses a sample of the Sao Paulo Cathedral choir singing a segment of Patrick Gowers' Viri Galilaei recorded in 1994.

"Hidden Place", "Pagan Poetry" and "Cocoon" were released as singles from the album. "It's Not Up to You" was supposed to be like the fourth single. A label on the cover of the CD states "includes "Hidden Place" and "It's Not Up to You"", but that release was never made, due to the birth of Isadora, daughter of Björk.

Vespertine was Björk's longest album, at 55:33 until it came out in 2015 Vulnicura, at 58:36 minutes long, later in 2017, Utopia came out at 71:38 minutes long duration.

Early versions

Early versions of the album were leaked on the internet with some differences to the final release. The songs were in a different order, the song "It's in Our Hands" was originally included (replaced by the instrumental "Frosti" in the final version), the song It's Not Up to You was not included, and some songs appeared under different titles, including "Pagan Poetry" ("Blueprint"), "Cocoon" ("Mouth"), and "Heirloom" ("Crabcraft" or "New"). A remix of "An Echo, a Stain" was also included.

Cover Page

The Vespertine cover shows Björk lying on a rocky surface next to a pool, covering her eyes from the sun with one arm and wearing the famous swan dress designed by Marjan Pejoski that caused a stir at the 2001 Oscars. The black-and-white photograph was taken by Dutch fashion photography duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in April 2001. Above the image of the singer is an illustration of a swan. and the name of the album, the work of M/M Paris. Björk has said: 'I don't really know why I'm obsessed with swans, but as I've already said, everything about my new album is about winter and they're kind of a white, wintry bird. Obviously very romantic, being monogamous".

Björk's Comments on Vespertine

• «Vespertine It is a small insect rising from the ashes."
• "It sounds like a winter recording. If you wake up in the middle of the night, and go out to your garden, everything that happens there is no knowledge. That's the mood he tried to get. Snow owls represent that very well”.
• "I was bored of strong tones. I've heard a lot of that, even drill'n'bass, a lot of Rephlex, the most mentally cut shit you can find. This is more electronic folk music, home music. It's cheesy to make a soundtrack for a sandwich, but I like it a lot. For a long time I've wanted some whispers. It was a watermark compared to oil. But "Pagan Poetry" was the last song I did, and I was hungry for something physical again. »
• "I collaborated by collecting together all the noises I know that are like hibernating and that sounds like it was inside your head. I'll guess that Vespertine for me it was something really, really, really internal and try to create music with redoubts and whispers and music boxes. »

Critical response

Vespertine was widely acclaimed by music critics. Both Phipps Keith of The A.V. Club and David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine named Vespertine Björk's best album to date. Allmusic said that "Vespertine isn't just beautiful, but proves that in Björk's hands, intimacy can be as compelling as the strongest emotions", while Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine called the album "nothing short of brilliant".. Nude as the News hailed Vespertine saying: “A mysterious, magical and beautiful soundtrack; similar to Homogenic, but in a feeling, joyous and full of love". Billboard commented on the album saying that "this intimate, often impressive and beautiful collection (mostly produced by the artist herself, seeks relief in the calm after a storm." Ian Wade also praised the album, awarding it 9 stars out of 10. A more lukewarm review came from Pitchfork Media who thought that "While undoubtedly beautiful, Vespertine fails to give electronic music the creeping pressure it received in the previous Björk albums" and that the album "is full of equality".

On Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100, Vespertine currently has a rating of 88/100, indicating "universal acclaim". It was also nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 2002 Grammy Awards. Recently, music webzine Drowned in Sound called Vespertine the number one album in the last six years of not attract press attention. Stylus Magazine ranked it at number 36 on their "Top 50 Albums: 2000-2005". Vespertine was also selected as one of the 1001 Records You Must Hear Before You Die. The album was also rated by Slant Magazine as the third best album of the 2000s.

Pitchfork Media placed Vespertine at number 92 on their list of the 200 Best Albums of the 2000s. the US Billboard 200. It also reached number one in Spain, France and Norway, and had sold two million copies by the end of 2001. The album was placed at number 67 on the list of the 100 Best Albums of the Decade at the end of 2009 released by Rolling Stone.

Song List

It was said that "It's Not Up To You" It was the fourth single but it could not be performed due to the birth of Ísadora, Björk's second daughter.

Awards and nominations

Vespertine was nominated at several award ceremonies. Below is a list of some of the nominations the album received:

Credits and staff

• Björk – producer, programming, rhythm programming, bass lines, rope arrangement, choir arrangements, harp arrangements, music box arrangements, vocal edition
• Valgeir Sigurðsson – programming, rhythm programming, ProTools, engineer
• Martin Gretschmann – producer, programming
• Jake Davies – programming, ProTools, engineer
• Matthew Herbert – programming
• Leigh Jamieson – ProTools
• Thomas Knak – production, programming
• Jan "Stan" Kybert – ProTools
• Matmos – programming, programming of rhythmprogramming, beat programming
• Vince Mendoza – string arrangements, choir arrangements, orchestra direction
• Zeena Parkins – harp, harp arrangements
• Jack Perron – adaptation for music box
• Guy Sigsworth – programming, rhythm programming, Celesta, cellar arrangement, clavict, clavict arrangements, choir arrangements
• Mark "Spike" Stent – mix
• Damian Taylor – programming, rhythm programming, ProTools
• Caryl Thomas – map
• Marius de Vries – producer, programming, rhythm programming
• M/M (Paris) – art direction, design and illustration
• Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin – photography
• Patrick Gowers – vocal composer and organ arrangements in “Unison”
• St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, led by John Scott – Coro in Unison

Position in lists