This is the 4th studio album from legendary Icelandic electronic pop and avant-garde singer songwriter Björk (the 5th if you count the one she made as a child) and I had no idea what to expect. I just knew Björk from mainstream media’s depiction of her as some weird artist. A reductionist look into Björk’s career, yes, but it’s at least a bit true to newbies like myself. Once I finally took the plunge, I was a little confused about what I had just heard, as I had never heard something like this album before, but that didn’t deter me much. In fact, I really like Vespertine. I do feel the tracks sort of sound similar to each other, but I still liked what I heard. The production is very interesting and deep-sounding. The composition does the most minimalist and the most maximalist I’ve seen an album do in a decent bit, and it doesn’t fall on its face in the process, but shines. The lyrics are very avant-garde and a bit abstract to the point where I didn’t really get it at first, but from what I could understand, Vespertine is a very personal, beautiful expression of love in musical form. This record relies on its beauty and because of that, it is home to some of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard. It puts me at ease and makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
PRODUCTION
I put on this album and I am immediately greeted with a very lush production style. The electronic beats in the back are cavernous and powerful, but never overpowering. They never overpower Björk’s vocals or anything else. Even on the more driving tracks, such as Pagan Poetry, the bass is never overpowering, but it sits below everything else in the mix, making for a solid foundation. In fact, there is no element of this record that is in any way overpowering, at least with production. This is a very quiet album that only gets loud when it wants to, especially with how it handles crescendos with strings. There are strings and choral sections that are mixed beautifully, fitting in with everyone else. They also both sound very clear and full, adding to an epic sound. The vocals and other melodies are almost always on top and they are clear when they want to play lead. I found a few plosives in the vocal recording, which is definitely very prominent in the just vocal sections such as in Pagan poetry with the “f” sounds, which I disliked at first, but now I’m coming around to it. Keeping those plosives in the recording adds a bit of a passionate edge to a soothing album which is what I like about it.
Effects on this record are often found in the beats. There are synthetic parts of this record that dance around your ears. They’re everywhere on this record, but they are mostly found at the very beginning, especially with those little purring percussive noises. Vocal effects are used pretty effectively on this album too. Björk’s voice is always clear, but clarity alone would make for a boring record. There are two effects that she uses when she wants to abandon this whole straight clarity thing: reverb and this PA effect she does on It’s Not up to You. The reverb makes this record feel a little more cavernous, which adds to the beauty factor. The PA effect doesn’t make her vocals sound terrible like on a certain album that would come 9 years later (*cough* My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy *cough cough*). She uses both on It’s Not up To You to great effect to help achieve whatever emotion she wants to get across. Production’s amazing on this record. Period.
COMPOSITION
The composition is immaculate and beautiful. It somehow balances minimal and maximal effortlessly. Of course, the backbone of the whole record is the backing programmed beats. These are often fairly lowkey, at least to start, with little quirky beeps and boops here and there to make things interesting. This feels mechanical but not quite soulless. I feel that this sound likely influenced the chiller aspects of pop music we see today with acts like Billie Eilish and cultural phenomena like the lo-fi beats coming out of the woodwork and into the mainstream. These are mostly quiet but are not afraid to get loud and bassy, like on Pagan Poetry, which oddly sounds like what The Weeknd would go on to do with his song, Die For You, but…you know, prettier. But this album most notably gets louder and denser with the help of these lush string sections. These are really full sounding, but they’re always gentle. They’re like waves of cool, refreshing water splashing onto you. The choir helps with this epic cavernous sound that the strings achieve. You can hear this on Harm of Will, which is a very beautiful song. I also can’t go without mentioning the music box on Frosti because it’s just so beautiful. It’s like I’m waking through and looking at the icicles in a winter wonderland! It’s just fantastic!
The structure of this album is not anything all that groundbreaking. It’s a pop record with pop structure from track to track. I heard a similar vibe from most of the tracks here…almost too similar. I got a little bored on my first listen because these tracks have a very similar calm, slow, sensual vibe to them. There are faster, louder tracks to break up this monotony however, which is alright. Also, the lightness is broken up by the darkness of A Thorn, A Stain while still fitting with the vibe of this record. But this album is not necessarily one-dimensional, nor is it a particularly diverse one. It is however, one of the most calming and beautiful records I have heard in a very long time. It makes me want to leave my current life to live in Iceland as a fisherman or something for the rest of my life. This is the perfect winter album to throw on and enjoy. I listened to Beach House’s Depression Cherry and I was disappointed because it wasn’t as relaxing, yet compositionally satisfying as songs like Space Song or PPP alluded to. It had the composition, somewhat, but it lacked in substance. This album does not have this problem. This album, even if it lacks in diversity and with that, instantly memorable songs, but this is a relaxing near hour of music, which I will always remember and will always be fond of.
LYRICS
As relaxing as it is, there is some lyrical substance worth talking about. And it all starts with Björk herself. Her voice is often quite shy, especially near the beginning. She has this quiet sound, yet a sound that is no doubt passionate. She is clearly singing close to the mic when she has this quiet voice, which I talked about earlier in the production, but she adds a unique edge with this tone of voice. But unlike another great album that came out in the same year, Björk gets loud when the music gets loud, and it works so well (DAMMIT PHIL). This is a quiet album with louder points and Björk rises up to meet the ebb and flow of this album amazingly. When she gets her chance to go solo as everything else behind her rests, like on Pagan Poetry with the “I Love Him”, it’s another challenge that Björk excels at. On the other hand, she builds really nicely at the end of the closer, Unison, as the music swells. She has a beautiful voice that is so full of raw passion that it sells the vibe of this album very well.
Lyrics are pretty cool, if a bit out there at points. This is an avant-garde record, especially from a lyrical standpoint. There are points where she’s literally singing in gibberish, which isn’t the most avant-garde thing I’ve heard, but it can get out there. Heirloom is among the strangest for me. It’s one of those songs that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around until I started digging. Something about warm oil going down Björk’s throat, it’s kind of weird, but it makes her feel better and it’s a clear expression of familial love, and love is the main theme of this record. But predominantly, Vespertine is about romantic love and how beautiful it is. It’s written from the perspective of a Björk madly in love with someone, and it is told in a beautiful way. It describes their life and how Björk feels about the whole thing. There are a few songs about sex but they are often about making love and various sexual acts told in a very flowery, light way. It’s kind of refreshing to hear that, given how sex is portrayed in media today as something fun, but often loveless. Don’t get me wrong, Björk ventures into negative aspects of sex such as on An Echo, A Stain, but this album has a mainly positive outlook on love, which adds to this album’s beauty. Björk’s head over heels for this man, and she’s enjoying his company, which turns sour years later, but let’s cross that bridge when we get there. For now, let’s enjoy the beauty of this record and its genuine, heartfelt expression of love.
CONCLUSION
Björk’s Vespertine is a beautiful record that washes over me like cool ocean waves along the coast of Iceland. I find this album relaxing, but not the dumb relaxing that you can just throw on in the background. This is an album that is both unassuming and commands your attention on account of how good it is. The production is well-rounded and accommodates the ebb and flow of this record effortlessly and makes every instrument sparkle. The vocal production adds a bit of a rougher, more passionate edge to it by keeping in little things that would likely be frowned upon then edited out in post. The composition is famously amazing! The beats are synthetic, and yet they make a backbone for an album full of life. There are glitches that give this record a bit of a haunting beauty to it, which uses that digital vibe to make something interesting enough to influence artists for years to come. The analog instruments such as strings and choirs are often dramatic, but never overbearing, making for a cavernous sound, paired with the production. Structurally, this album is not quite different from your average pop album, and it bored me in the first few listens. It breaks up this monotony with thematically and compositionally different songs that stick out like a sore thumb as they differ from the slow, pretty form of this record. But like I said, this isn’t just something chill to throw on when you want to decompress, but a substantive record both compositionally and lyrically. Björk helps with that with at first, shy and breathy vocals that build up into something powerful as the music swells! What’s also beautiful about this record is how it is a genuine expression of love. As avant-garde and strange as this album can get, it’s an act of love, whether to Björk’s boyfriend at the time, or to her family, or to us, the listener. I certainly feel her passion, and with that I feel loved and at ease when I listen to this album. In the winter cold, this album is a needed warm and fuzzy record to drink hot chocolate to while watching the snow fall from the window, nice and cozy.
I'm giving this one a Light 9/10
FAVOURITE TRACKS: Hidden Place; Cocoon; It’s Not Up To You; Pagan Poetry; Frosti; An Echo, A Stain; Sun In My Mouth; Harm of Will; Unison
LEAST FAVOURITE TRACK: Aurora
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