November 11, 2024 • 54 mins
In this episode, we discuss the conclusion of Vespertine and how it all creates a fine little story.
featuring music by Ridu, Dark Jedi, Butt Midler, Electric Dandelion, and Nebulas Beyond
intro/outro music by Sinevvave
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, welcome to Sonic Cereal.
(00:10):
I'm Jesse.
And I'm Mark.
And in this podcast, we take a deep dive into albums from some of our favorite artists
track by track.
Like Bjork, who we're doing today.
And we're continuing with our album Vespertine and it was released in August 19th, 2001.
(00:31):
And it's classified as Artpop, Glitchpop, Folktronica.
And it was released on the One Little Independent Records.
And the theme is introversion and intimacy.
Have I asked you before?
But are you, would you consider yourself an introvert?
Yeah, I'm very much an introvert, but I'm a reluctant extrovert because I have to be.
(00:59):
I get that.
What about you?
Well, I'd say I'm 80%.
No 90%.
Introvert.
And what's the other 10%?
Extrovert.
But it only comes out when I'm drinking.
Or like right now.
(01:19):
Yeah.
Usually I'm just like, yeah, okay.
You're just like a throw pillow on the sofa.
Hey, I got more to say about this later.
Okay, before we start, before we start, I listened to these three songs when I was at
(01:43):
the gym a few days ago for the first time.
And it was the first time in a long time.
And something came to me like in a vision.
It's weird.
Like I had my eyes closed because I was like working out and it just, this came to me.
I think we have to say what songs we're talking about here.
Oh.
We're talking about Heirloom, Harm of Will, and Unison.
(02:07):
That's right.
Okay.
So regarding these three songs.
Yeah.
I was at the gym.
I was listening to them and I closed my eyes and as I finished the third song, I just had
this vision of like, okay, imagine a secret script that was being written by Steven Soderbergh
(02:32):
and David Cronenberg together.
Oh, I would be excited for that.
And the topic is, it's about human trafficking in medieval times.
Interesting.
Okay.
Keep listening.
So when I listened to it, imagine if it's a film and this is a soundtrack for it.
(02:53):
Heirloom opens the film with like the protagonist, which is played by Bjork as an old woman,
but it's actually played by her now.
And she's reflecting on her life and her experience and having been trafficked and married to
the man that she didn't know.
Why?
Wait, this is Heirloom.
(03:16):
So think of the lyrics.
Give me a lyric.
I have a recurrent dream every time I feel a hoarseness in my throat.
Yeah.
So she's like an old woman reflecting back on her life.
And then she dreams about her son and her mom walking above her and feeding her.
(03:36):
No, no, no.
That doesn't have to do with my script.
Anyway, Heirloom is basically her and his old woman reminiscing about her life as having
been trafficked in medieval times.
Harm of Will is about like in her teens, right after she's been trafficked and transported
halfway around the world and she's sold to a man and then she's forced to do unspeakable
(04:01):
things against her will to him.
And this Bjork would be or this character would be played by Bjork's daughter.
That's cool.
And then Unison is like where she finally gives in.
It's the end of the film.
She finally gives in initially saying that she'd never compromise, but then she gives
(04:24):
in and accepts her life and she's like, this is how it's going to be.
And then this younger or this kind of forties one would be played by, I think, Natalie Portman,
but you said Kim Kardashian.
It did not.
So you thought about this in the gym?
(04:45):
Yeah.
All right.
Like how these three songs would make the perfect like beginning, middle and end to
a film about human trafficking in medieval times.
And that's what you were laughing about?
Yeah.
Okay.
I worry about you.
Okay.
So let's start with the first one of these tracks, Heirloom.
(05:16):
So this is when she's an old woman.
It's Heirloom.
Yeah.
Do you have an heirloom?
Do you?
No, do you?
My grandfather gave me some things before he passed away that I kind of thought are
(05:37):
very special.
Yeah.
And if I had kids, I would like say, this is why this is important.
Would my dad's guitar be considered an heirloom?
If it's something that would be passed along generation to generation.
(05:57):
I think I just stole it.
So I don't know.
Is it something that'd be passed on from generation to generation?
I can pass.
Yeah, I can pass it on.
Okay.
Then yeah.
All right.
No, I probably wouldn't want to pass it on because I'm a hoarder.
(06:18):
Are you going to hoard past your death?
Yeah.
I'm really.
Bury it all with me.
Can you imagine?
All right.
Can you imagine a hoarder wanting that, leaving that in their will?
I'm surprised there isn't a lot of stories about that.
(06:39):
Okay.
Well, this is a track that stands out from the rest where Bjork sings over a pre-recorded
somewhat lo-fi track.
Okay.
Mrs. Rackleman.
She was my organ teacher when I was a kid.
You found her online?
Yes.
What?
(07:00):
You guys should reconnect.
Is she still?
No.
Oh.
Anyway, Mrs. Rackleman, she was my organ teacher and this song reminds me of her.
All right.
She's real mean.
Well, you know what it reminds me of?
She would put the metronome on and then have a ruler.
You guys would play songs like this?
(07:20):
No.
Why does it remind you of your organ?
Because the song has organ in it.
Yeah.
Duh.
Okay.
It reminds me of my grandma's organ.
Because it's like a double entendre.
Sure.
I'm not sure.
(07:41):
It reminds me of your organ.
The German artist Martin Gretzschmann, aka Consul, made an album in 1998 called Rocket
in the Pocket and Björk kind of grabbed me little hands all over it.
(08:02):
She especially liked to track crab crafts, so she sang some of her lyrics over it and
recorded it for Vesperteen.
(08:22):
And she did contact Consul in 2000 to get his blessings and they met in London, so what?
So what?
Okay.
Good for them.
I know, right?
So how does it flow within the album Flow?
(08:42):
It sticks out, but at the same time it kind of blends in.
Calm down.
Okay.
Yeah, it sticks out, but at the same time it blends in by being gentle and beautiful
and dreamy.
It kind of feels like she didn't want to go there, but towards the end she just like,
(09:06):
I'll just have it, let's do it.
That's the best time.
Yeah.
Okay, tell us about production.
It starts with a bossa nova beat or a samba preset, a beat on an organ, then some friendly
synths come in, including a cute chubby bass.
(09:27):
There's also some kind of reversing tricks in the production.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Which I think is a good cool contrast to the organ, which is so traditional from an electronic
perspective.
Right.
And it reminds me of the Pulsar service or Casiotone for the painfully alone.
(09:50):
Do you know them?
Yeah.
Okay.
You want to play some?
Sure.
That was nice.
What does this song mean?
(10:11):
Heirloom is about a dream Björk often has where her mom and her son Trappis walk above
her and feed her warm glowing oils for her throat.
That's sweet.
But honestly, if I saw that in my dream, I'd be scared.
Why is it oil?
(10:31):
They're trying to kill me.
I like where she says, I swallow little glowing lights.
My mother and son baked for me.
It's just a nice image.
Yeah.
I swallow little glowing lights.
(10:54):
I could see you eating glowing lights.
Yeah.
Get it girl.
And I just realized there's a lot of swallowing references in this album and songs like Cocoon,
Sun in My Mouth and Heirloom.
Okay, do you have any recurring dreams?
(11:16):
I was gonna ask you.
Well, when I was little, I used to have a lot of being able to fly and waffle dreams.
Yeah.
How come we never have waffles?
We don't have a waffle maker.
That's true.
I mean, we could get one.
Yeah.
We could be here by tomorrow.
I like waffles.
(11:36):
You do?
More than pancakes?
Yes.
Really?
Paris waffles were good.
Oh yes.
But we digress.
Yeah, live performances.
The first time she performed Heirloom live was at Coachella in 2002.
(12:06):
Were you there?
Yeah.
Did you see her?
Yeah.
And you saw that?
Tell me about it.
I don't know.
I was walking around all the different tents.
I didn't stay for her whole thing because there's other bands I wanted to see.
How many times have you been to Coachella?
(12:27):
Five.
Six times.
So that's a lot.
So I feel like you're just gonna run them all together and like, tell me about it.
I don't know.
Okay.
Do you have any recurring dreams?
No, but I always have dreams about the house I grew up in.
(12:55):
So it's like recurring settings.
Yeah, it's like I'm in high school still.
So I guess that's like a really special moment I'm trying to hold on to, I guess.
No, you're thinking back and wondering what you could have done differently.
Yeah.
If you could go to high school again, would you?
(13:16):
If you could go to one time in your life.
I asked you the question.
Yeah I'd go back.
Yeah.
Like what, just to like hang out for a day or like go back and have to relive my whole
life from then on?
Yeah relive your whole life.
Oh.
Yeah.
If I knew what I know now.
Or would you rather do one day?
No, if I knew what I knew now, I probably would.
(13:40):
Okay.
Would you?
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, the last time she performed this heirloom song was in 2013.
You sound like you're mad at it.
I am.
At the electric picnic in Ireland.
(14:04):
And what about the critics?
Well, one critic said this song feels like stepping into a surreal dreamy space.
The pulsing electronic beat kind of mirrors a heartbeat, grounding you as Bjork's voice
floats above it all.
It's intimate, introspective, like she's letting you into her personal dreamscape.
(14:28):
I guess.
It's like we're her therapist and she's telling us like where her dream is.
Girl, are you crazy?
Yeah.
All right.
Well, if you want to talk about remixes, I can tell you that my brother did a mashup
with Gabriel and Justin's Arcadia and it's cool.
(14:52):
So people can just deal.
And I think this is my brother's favorite song off the album, if I have to speak for
him.
I'm going to shut up, bro.
And Bup Midler.
Wait, can we hear that?
Yeah.
All right.
Well, Bup Midler can't top that.
(15:21):
But they did a mashup with Ayers, Alone in Kyoto.
Yeah, we talked about that on the Ayre episode.
We did.
Talking Wocky.
So check it out.
And then there's also the Heirloom redo mix, RIDU.
That's good.
(15:44):
Yeah.
Cute.
Well, you know, that's it.
We're going to move on to Harm of Will, 11th track.
This is when Bjork in the movie is in her 20s.
(16:17):
And she's first getting trafficked.
I don't want to hear about this traffic anymore.
Stop.
It's not funny.
Fine, give me your one line.
It would be such an amazing film score for that film.
Yes, this is like the heartwarming dramatic version of In Echoes Stain and a more epic
(16:41):
version of You've Been Flirting Again.
We talked about that.
Yeah.
We did it.
Yeah.
In her post episode.
Check it out.
Yeah.
And W W dot.
What's your first impression?
(17:03):
I even put that there.
I know.
Um, I thought it was a heavy tune when I first heard it, but ever so beautiful.
In filmmakers.
Just like fit in with my teen angst.
I was like, this is what I feel right now.
No one understands.
And speaking of that time filmmaker Harmony Corrine, who did gumbo and Julian, Donkey
(17:32):
Boy and Spring Breakers was hanging out with Bjork in the late nineties and wrote this
song for her called Harm of Will.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know about that.
I don't know how they met.
I'm assuming like she just saw gumbo and she was like, this shit slaps.
(17:56):
I have to meet this genius or whatever.
And she was like, she met him.
You know, if you're in with the end crowd, you're in with the end crowd.
Why did you pick this photo?
Because it's from gumbo.
I know, but why did you pick this one?
(18:18):
Because Harmony Corrine.
I know.
You don't know.
Yeah, we saw him on the thing.
On David.
He did a bunch of interviews with David.
Yeah, check them out.
They're good.
They're fun.
How does this fit with the album's flow?
Well, it's like a nice, heavy, gentle confrontation before the big finale.
(18:43):
Right.
Heavy, nice, heavy, gentle confrontation.
Yeah.
You know what that's like?
No.
It's just like, it's like, say my boss and I were like, I fucking hate you.
(19:04):
And it was just like, you know what?
I'm sorry.
It's like I'm sorry too.
You understand now?
I understand.
All right, then let's move on to production.
So there's Strings by Bjork and Vince Mendoza.
There's a choir and good old Celesta by Guy Sigsworth.
(19:36):
Anyway, speaking of Guy Sigsworth, they also have another Celesta song, which is a cover
of Joni Mitchell's The Boho Dance.
Do you like that?
(19:59):
Yeah, I like it.
I like it too.
And there are some interesting chocolate sounds of Bjork breathing in the background and she
did it just for the hell of it.
Why not?
She didn't, but she does it all for the hell of it.
Hey, she could have just like, did something like throughout the whole song and she was
(20:28):
like, why not?
You know what I'm saying?
Well, there's some, Bjork said she spent months writing the strings and she went for a less
melodic abstract approach.
(20:48):
She wanted to be clouds of exaltation, erotic energy and coming and going.
That sounds like where it's at.
Am I right?
You're right.
And it reminds me of All Is Full of Love.
(21:09):
Speaking of, have I told you about my All Is Full of Love mashup that I did with Sigurdurfs?
I mean, Royx, Royx's song?
I think that's how you say it.
No.
Their song.
Tell me about it.
Called Sparks.
Check it out.
(21:29):
I've been wanting to show you for a long time.
Why have you had that locked away?
I don't know.
(21:50):
I forgot.
What does this song mean?
Some have speculated this song is about artist slash singer Will Oldham, aka Bonnie Prince,
since he was affiliated with Homniacorine.
(22:13):
Bonnie Prince Billy?
Sorry, I call him by his first name.
Bonnie Prince Billy, since he was friends with Homniacorine Björk.
Well, someone also said it's about a libertine troubadour who indulges in casual sexual pleasure
(22:36):
with the conquests.
What kind of vibes does it give you?
It gives me Vicomte de Valmont vibes from Dangerous Liaisons, if you know you know.
Would you agree?
Have you seen Dangerous Liaisons?
(22:57):
You know, I didn't see it until kind of recently, like four years ago or something.
Wow.
It's the same as Cruel Intention.
Yeah.
Which one did you like better?
Well, I haven't seen Dangerous Liaisons, but I'm sure I would like Cruel Intentions better.
Just because I don't do period pieces well.
(23:20):
You don't.
That's true.
Unless it's on Pluto.
How would you know?
Shout out Pluto.
What period pieces have we watched together?
Because you never want to.
Okay.
What are we going to talk about?
The lyrics?
Well, I like the lyric where she says, and if he has chosen the point where she is under
(23:45):
him, then leave her coyly placed crouched sucking him for it is I with her on knee.
That's erotic.
(24:05):
This is in the Trafficking movie when she verses with the guy.
Because it feels like the part where the character has an epiphany and takes a break from their
destructive behavior for some self-reflection and evaluation on life choices.
(24:27):
And it also fits with the album's sexual theme.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We love it.
I don't know if there's anywhere that that's not considered disrespectful.
Okay.
Well, we got a critic.
We're going to talk about critics.
(24:49):
One critic said, this track is so sparse yet so powerful.
It's almost like Bjork's voice.
It's suspended in midair with only the faintest sound behind her.
What?
I wanted to bring something out and I forgot.
(25:09):
Well go get it.
Are you sure?
Yeah.
All right.
We're going to take a break.
That's really beautiful.
(25:30):
Thank you.
Thank you everyone.
We're back.
We're back.
All right.
This track is so sparse yet so powerful.
It's almost like Bjork's voice is suspended in midair with only the faintest of sounds
(25:51):
behind her.
There's a haunting beauty to it.
Something hypnotic that pulls you in leaving you wanting more.
I feel like Bjork leaves you wanting more.
Yeah, she does.
And she has a couple of remixes.
These are fan made remixes.
(26:12):
So one of them is the Nebula's Beyond remix.
Yeah.
And the other one is Dark Jedi.
(26:41):
It's actually nice.
You like that?
Yeah.
What's the IP address if they want to go to check that out?
The IP address?
You know, the website, the actual link.
Oh, I don't know.
We can share it.
We don't share links usually.
We just say the other one was the Nebula's remix and there's the Dark Jedi.
(27:05):
All right.
And they just search for it.
Well, you need to stay on top of these things.
I can tell you that Bjork mostly performed Harm of Will in 2001.
And she brought it back in 2015 for her Vulna Kura tour.
With the handpan.
I didn't care for that one too much.
(27:37):
And then she played it once more in 2021.
Harpas as Harva and Reykjavik.
It's like Harpa's like it's a woman that lives down the street.
Well, it belongs to Harpa.
(27:57):
And it was performed for her Oberstrasse shows.
All right.
That's a lovely send off.
Now let's talk about Unison.
Track 12.
I love it.
(28:24):
It's a good song.
It's yeah.
This is the longest song on the album.
How long is it?
In 45 seconds.
Calm down.
(28:45):
Well, it's the most euphoric song on the album.
So how can I be calm?
True that.
All right.
So my first impression was that is this what pop music in heaven sounds like?
You know?
(29:06):
And so Bjork wrote Unison while working on Dancer in the Dark and she was struggling with the
collaborative process of putting her music in the hands of non-music types.
You know what that's like.
Don't I ever?
I've been through it all.
(29:27):
Well, I tried to remix a song of yours and you just like when I heard it, when you heard
it you're like.
Nothing you just like, oh, no, and then we never talked about it again.
I said, well, I like your clothes.
So you're wearing right now.
All right.
(29:47):
How does this fit in with the album's flow?
It makes me it makes the perfect happy ending for an already quite positive album.
It's quite happy ending.
It's quite sugary.
It makes my teeth hurt because it's so sugary.
Did Ariana Grande really?
(30:10):
She did.
OK.
She hurt my little Ariana Grande shirt.
I mean, she's kind of trying to cosplay her as her in that picture.
But yeah, I don't.
(30:30):
Whatever.
I mean, yeah, Bjork didn't invent this.
Hold your hands together by your mouth.
Pray.
That's prayer.
She didn't invent that.
But she thinks she is.
Hating down on all these artists.
She's going to sue you for libel.
(30:54):
She'll sue me for life.
All right.
Tell me about the production.
Definitely.
This song's got everything.
It's got a harp by Zena Parkins.
She's back.
A choir by Guy Sigsoorth.
He's back.
(31:14):
And strings by Vince Mendoza.
The Triple Threat Team.
Yes.
And then it's got all the programming by Matt Moves, Val Gietzigapsson, Matthew Herbert,
Damon Taylor, Guy Sigsoorth, and Bjork.
So it's just like a big family reunion, really.
The Fespertine family.
(31:35):
That's a family I'd like to be a part of.
Speaking of Matt Moves.
Yeah.
Did I mention that when they performed Aurora with Bjork?
No.
You didn't.
Tell me.
When they performed Aurora with Bjork, they would walk in a box filled with rock salt.
(32:00):
Yeah.
And speaking of Aurora.
Wait.
I don't get it.
A box full of rock salt?
I don't know.
You told me.
Oh.
I thought they were inside of a box full of rock salt.
No.
They're walking on it.
Yes.
From the video.
A litter box.
Yeah.
They're making the crunchy sound.
(32:21):
Okay.
Well, speaking of Aurora, they should have, she should have used the sounds that come
from Auroras in the song, in unison.
Like the Aurora Borealis?
Yeah.
Have you heard the sounds?
Yeah.
It's like glassy whistling.
Yeah.
(32:41):
Well, she missed out on that.
I don't know what to tell her.
Is that what you'd tell her if you met her in person?
(33:02):
Yeah.
I'd be like, listen, I have to tell you something.
Just rub her nose in it?
That she missed out?
She'd be like, oh, oh God, what am I doing?
What have I done with my life?
Okay.
This song, unison, though, that we're talking about, it includes a sample of Aerodeck by
(33:25):
Oval from the album Systemish.
And Oval is an electronic artist that makes music by scratching CDs and making them skip.
I like it.
I have this album and if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have known what this album was.
(33:55):
So thank you for that.
Thank you.
Anyway.
What page are we on?
What section are we in?
Unison.
I know, but we're...
The production of Unison.
Got it.
Okay, I see it.
So I was saying that she played Oval in her DJ set on Live on the Breeze of Block on BBC
(34:20):
Radio in 1998.
See clap that mama.
Do you like it?
Yeah.
It's a good mix.
You should check it out.
Let's check it out now.
Okay.
(34:46):
Tell us about it.
She uses a...
She puts in a song with a Bollywood singer singing, I will always love you.
It's good.
It's got a lot of good music on there if you want to have a wide range.
She has a broad range of music.
(35:08):
She does.
You tell the kids.
All right.
Well, it also has a choral sample.
What's that sample that she uses with the choir in this song?
Where are we?
Tell me about the choir sample.
(35:30):
That's all I want to know about.
Oh, okay.
Why won't you tell me?
You want to know about the choral sample?
Yeah.
It's of VD Galallalallelujah.
All right.
Is that what you wanted to know?
(35:57):
Yeah.
Well, it's comma and while they led steadfastly toward heaven by Patrick Gowers, Andrew Lucas,
St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, and John Gavin Scott, which she did not credit on the album's
(36:17):
booklet.
So maybe because that's a mouthful and she's going to fit it on the album.
She's like, that's too much to type.
Probably what happened.
(36:42):
It's also got ice sculptures, wine-os, germs.
Where are germs?
German Smurfs.
The Teddy Rucks pin wearing mascara, an old lady wearing kid and play hair, and none other
than DJ Baby Bok Choi.
(37:03):
Sounds like our Tuesday night.
Yeah.
That's a lot.
Yeah.
But it sounds like a party I'd want to be at.
Me too.
So what does this song, Unison, mean to you?
I think it's about, well, related to the movie.
Yeah.
(37:24):
This is just where she's like, I give in.
I'm going to accept my life.
And then she realizes that that's okay.
That she's being...
She's been trafficked.
She was sold to someone.
She's stuck in that.
I don't want to talk about trafficking anymore.
(37:44):
And then she's like, okay.
Maybe who knows, but I'm falling for this guy.
I'm just going to make it work for the rest of my life.
Well, I can tell you what I think about Unison.
I think about personal growth through working with others and meeting someone halfway, no
(38:05):
matter how hard it is working with that person.
It's hard for you to meet people halfway.
Yeah.
Like finding the balance between keeping your integrity and willing to see someone else's
viewpoint.
Yeah.
But I'm saying it's hard for you to meet people halfway.
Yeah.
I don't care.
(38:27):
It's a joke said Unison that was inspired by having to compromise her creative vision
while working on the film Dancer in the Dark.
She said, I felt ready to be very collaborative, but I wrote that in the middle of the film
when I was tired of changing my tracks because some Danish person who is Lars von Trier thought
(38:51):
something.
I could see that she does not like to be told what to do.
Yeah.
She doesn't like her vision is so strong authority.
No, I'm saying like her vision, you know, when somebody's vision isn't strong, it's
easy to sway them.
Yeah.
But hers is obviously like, she has a big ego steadfast.
(39:12):
I wasn't saying that.
I was saying she's very, she has a very strong will about her vision.
Yeah.
Or none of the stuff that she does would get made.
You can tell when you're bringing your baby to someone that doesn't respect it.
And when you're bringing it to people that actually do care about it.
(39:34):
When you bring your baby to be stranger, what is the situation?
You know, sometimes you need a babysitter and I don't know.
And sad times you see those nanocams or the babysitters like shaking the baby or like
(39:58):
slapping it too hard.
And I feel like that's what happened to Björk's music here.
Anyway, Björk has said that this conflict might go back to how the Danish colonized
(40:19):
Iceland and how her father was an electrician in a union.
So she's all about coming together and not fighting.
You crazy.
What are you talking about?
Anyway, what's it?
What do you think is a good lyric?
I like the lyric.
I thrive best hermit style with a beard and a pipe and a parrot on each side.
(40:43):
But now I can't do this without you.
It is just funny.
We forgot to.
We were watching a couple of reviews earlier and the guy that said this, that was like
(41:03):
a parrot on each side.
It was like, yeah, that's the lyric.
Yeah.
And then you thought she said with a beer and a pie, beer and a pie.
That would be my preference.
Yeah.
No, and I think that's better, to be honest.
And yeah, so it just reminds me.
(41:25):
So you thrive hermit style.
Me?
Yeah.
For the most part.
I try not to.
It's not good to be a complete hermit.
Or you can't be because I'm always bugging you.
Yeah.
So.
Sorry.
It reminds me of people who are like hardcore and proud to be introverts.
(41:50):
And that's cool and all.
But at the end of the day, humans need social interaction.
Yeah.
It's just how we're programmed.
I don't know what to tell you.
And I say too much of one thing never looks, it's never good.
So if you're introvert, go outside once in a while.
(42:12):
And if you're extrovert, go home and turn the lights out.
Good night.
I think we have a good balance of introversion and extroversion.
Yeah.
We go out pretty much every weekend.
Yeah.
All the time.
All the time.
We refuse to stay in here.
(42:32):
We stay in here all day.
Let me tell you people at home.
Who are we refusing to?
Is somebody telling us to stay in here?
We're like no.
We're not going to stay in here anymore.
Now who is this person telling us to stay in?
Our work.
Our jobs.
Oh I see.
I don't know.
(42:53):
The laziness.
Yeah they suck the energy out of you.
That's true.
By five o'clock.
They're like alright we've got enough.
And then you're just like this empty shell.
Yeah.
So sad.
So sad.
This isn't a Radiohead album.
This is Bjork we're talking about.
(43:15):
How'd I get here?
And so some critics, we're going to talk about critics.
Yeah.
They say it's the perfect finale.
Unison brings together the album's electronic and orchestral layers in uplifting almost cathartic
close.
It feels like Bjork is reaching out celebrating connection and harmony.
(43:38):
A gorgeous powerful moment to end on.
Yeah I never realized it's kind of a hippie song.
But that's cool.
It's like hippie without being hippie.
It's like elegant hippie.
That's kind of a good description of Bjork.
(44:01):
Thank you.
I saw the calculations happening in your brain as you came to that.
Can you tell me about the remixes though?
Well it's been covered by Hayley Williams from Paramore and Mary May.
(44:24):
That brings us to our, what's the next remix?
It's the Unison.
It's the Electric Dandelion remix.
And you can hear that on Soundcloud.
Let's take a listen.
I can already picture how that sounds.
No you don't.
I have no idea.
(44:44):
Alright let's check it out then and see what I think.
Was it what you thought I was going to say?
No.
Okay.
(45:05):
I said my piece.
Cool.
Well what can you tell me about performances and mashups?
Oh Butt Midler did, good old Butt Midler, really like, they're loyal.
Yeah.
Did a mashup of Unison with Madonna's Drowned World, substitute for love.
(45:34):
That's cool.
I listened to that at the gym.
Okay she needs some motivation.
Anyway Bureau performed this for her Vespertine tour, her Volta tour, and once for her Biophilia
tour.
Just once?
Yeah.
And when was the last time she performed it?
(45:55):
It was in 2021 for our orchestral shows in Reykjavik.
Those have been nice to see.
Yeah.
That was COVID though.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(46:16):
So it was just like exclusively Icelandic people or people that lived there.
Okay so this is the end of the song review.
Yeah.
But.
I told you it was going to be a short episode.
But wait.
So you know how when we first start an album we sort of talk about the whole album and
(46:42):
then we go into the first song?
But we never, I realized, do like a wrap up of the album.
No.
So let's do one now.
Okay.
So yeah, what do you think of the album now that we've covered it all?
You've probably learned new things about it.
Yeah.
Still holds up.
(47:03):
I don't know.
Tell you.
Look, now that you've, because you know you'll listen to music, but when we do this podcast
we really like dive into every song and we research it and we listen to it.
So now that you've re-experienced it as part of doing this podcast, like what's new?
(47:27):
What's new about it?
Or what fills your head about it?
You know you always hear new stories along the people you meet.
They've been to this, like that concert for her or they might have known her during that
time.
Like we went to the Midway and there's a guy there who had a story about meeting the guys,
(47:54):
Matt Most, that produced some of the beats on the album and, or yeah, he got to meet
Björk.
You know what I'm saying?
What about you?
You said that you had your first kiss when you heard this album in San Francisco and
(48:20):
then now how does it hold up?
I mean it's still amazing.
I don't know.
How could you not love it?
Yeah.
I think this is a good time to talk about the retired guy that reviews.
(48:42):
I don't know.
He said he was 76 or 77.
And he watched the Unison, he watched your performance in Reykjavik, which was the last
performance of it and he was just like, Oh, I don't know what the hell I just watched.
(49:07):
Not as angry, but you're just like, what?
What the fuck?
It was so, and then, but then he started saying like, bless Jesus Christ.
You're just like, whoever watches this video.
Make sure you know the Lord.
Bye Jesus.
Yeah.
(49:27):
Okay.
So I want to play this thing that's like critic versus critic.
So we're going to hear two critics, different perspectives on the whole album, and then
we're going to talk about them.
All right.
Okay.
The first critic said, we're not for the fact that Bjork had already visited this train
so reliably on previous outings.
(49:50):
It could very well be her landmark achievement, but with the astounding homogenic behind her,
its melodies, timelessly memorable and its production similarly captivating.
Vesper teen stands only as a pleasant journey back through her usual another world.
So my summary is this person's basically saying like, it's nothing new, right?
(50:15):
Yeah.
Like it doesn't innovate in the same ways.
Yeah.
Okay.
Wait, hold on.
Okay.
So the next review says everything about this album is great, but the reason it gets you
a perfect score is because of the way it made me feel.
So many emotions bled through me while listening to this masterpiece.
(50:35):
I want to relisten over and over again, much like a good movie.
Okay.
So this person saying that they loved it.
They didn't care whether it sounded like the past album or it was derivative or whatever.
They just said, this album makes me feel amazing.
Yeah.
So one person's like, what makes it good is if it makes you feel.
(51:01):
And another person's like, what makes it good is if it sounds different.
So one's very technical and the other is very emotional.
Yeah, but sometimes sounds affect feels.
That's what you got to say about this?
Some guys are going to go with the feels one.
Wait, what do you want?
I was asking you to pick a side.
(51:21):
I was saying, it's interesting that some reviews can be like, people love it or hate it because
it makes them feel and other people are like, it doesn't feel like it was innovative enough.
They didn't even think about how did it actually make you feel?
(51:42):
Don't be so bougie about it.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
Okay.
What else about this album?
Like, how do you, what, when you think back on it now, what's, what do you feel?
Just listening to it on my CD player in my room all alone.
(52:03):
Do you know I had a mattress for a bed for a while?
Everybody has a mattress for a bed.
What are you sleeping like a father?
On the floor.
It was just like how an addict.
When you were a little kid?
(52:23):
No, when I was like 12 or something listening to this album.
That was like your aesthetic?
Yeah.
Sure.
I was just like, I'll take whatever I can get handed to me.
(52:45):
So as long as I can escape through this album.
You know.
It's getting dark.
I know.
We know it wasn't an abuse or anything.
I was just depressed.
Oh my.
You know?
I think we've said it all.
(53:06):
Yes, we said it all.
We've seen it all.
We did it all.
We heard it all.
Smelt it all.
We watched it all.
We lived it all.
Yes.
So it's time to say goodbye.
Bye.
Go home.
Bye.
Time to go Mimi's.
Take your husband, take your keys.
(53:29):
Goodbye.
Okay.
Wait.
This is the end of Vespertyne.
Oh, this is the end of Vespertyne.
Thank you for the journey.
How do you feel about that?
Thank you for taking this joy ride with us through the ups and downs, the ins and outs,
(53:54):
the snowy, icy, chilly hills, the foggy, cold moments.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye.
Hi, welcome to Sonic Cereal.
(00:10):
I'm Jesse.
And I'm Mark.
And in this podcast, we take a deep dive into albums from some of our favorite artists
track by track.
Like Bjork, who we're doing today.
And we're continuing with our album Vespertine and it was released in August 19th, 2001.
(00:31):
And it's classified as Artpop, Glitchpop, Folktronica.
And it was released on the One Little Independent Records.
And the theme is introversion and intimacy.
Have I asked you before?
But are you, would you consider yourself an introvert?
Yeah, I'm very much an introvert, but I'm a reluctant extrovert because I have to be.
(00:59):
I get that.
What about you?
Well, I'd say I'm 80%.
No 90%.
Introvert.
And what's the other 10%?
Extrovert.
But it only comes out when I'm drinking.
Or like right now.
(01:19):
Yeah.
Usually I'm just like, yeah, okay.
You're just like a throw pillow on the sofa.
Hey, I got more to say about this later.
Okay, before we start, before we start, I listened to these three songs when I was at
(01:43):
the gym a few days ago for the first time.
And it was the first time in a long time.
And something came to me like in a vision.
It's weird.
Like I had my eyes closed because I was like working out and it just, this came to me.
I think we have to say what songs we're talking about here.
Oh.
We're talking about Heirloom, Harm of Will, and Unison.
(02:07):
That's right.
Okay.
So regarding these three songs.
Yeah.
I was at the gym.
I was listening to them and I closed my eyes and as I finished the third song, I just had
this vision of like, okay, imagine a secret script that was being written by Steven Soderbergh
(02:32):
and David Cronenberg together.
Oh, I would be excited for that.
And the topic is, it's about human trafficking in medieval times.
Interesting.
Okay.
Keep listening.
So when I listened to it, imagine if it's a film and this is a soundtrack for it.
(02:53):
Heirloom opens the film with like the protagonist, which is played by Bjork as an old woman,
but it's actually played by her now.
And she's reflecting on her life and her experience and having been trafficked and married to
the man that she didn't know.
Why?
Wait, this is Heirloom.
(03:16):
So think of the lyrics.
Give me a lyric.
I have a recurrent dream every time I feel a hoarseness in my throat.
Yeah.
So she's like an old woman reflecting back on her life.
And then she dreams about her son and her mom walking above her and feeding her.
(03:36):
No, no, no.
That doesn't have to do with my script.
Anyway, Heirloom is basically her and his old woman reminiscing about her life as having
been trafficked in medieval times.
Harm of Will is about like in her teens, right after she's been trafficked and transported
halfway around the world and she's sold to a man and then she's forced to do unspeakable
(04:01):
things against her will to him.
And this Bjork would be or this character would be played by Bjork's daughter.
That's cool.
And then Unison is like where she finally gives in.
It's the end of the film.
She finally gives in initially saying that she'd never compromise, but then she gives
(04:24):
in and accepts her life and she's like, this is how it's going to be.
And then this younger or this kind of forties one would be played by, I think, Natalie Portman,
but you said Kim Kardashian.
It did not.
So you thought about this in the gym?
(04:45):
Yeah.
All right.
Like how these three songs would make the perfect like beginning, middle and end to
a film about human trafficking in medieval times.
And that's what you were laughing about?
Yeah.
Okay.
I worry about you.
Okay.
So let's start with the first one of these tracks, Heirloom.
(05:16):
So this is when she's an old woman.
It's Heirloom.
Yeah.
Do you have an heirloom?
Do you?
No, do you?
My grandfather gave me some things before he passed away that I kind of thought are
(05:37):
very special.
Yeah.
And if I had kids, I would like say, this is why this is important.
Would my dad's guitar be considered an heirloom?
If it's something that would be passed along generation to generation.
(05:57):
I think I just stole it.
So I don't know.
Is it something that'd be passed on from generation to generation?
I can pass.
Yeah, I can pass it on.
Okay.
Then yeah.
All right.
No, I probably wouldn't want to pass it on because I'm a hoarder.
(06:18):
Are you going to hoard past your death?
Yeah.
I'm really.
Bury it all with me.
Can you imagine?
All right.
Can you imagine a hoarder wanting that, leaving that in their will?
I'm surprised there isn't a lot of stories about that.
(06:39):
Okay.
Well, this is a track that stands out from the rest where Bjork sings over a pre-recorded
somewhat lo-fi track.
Okay.
Mrs. Rackleman.
She was my organ teacher when I was a kid.
You found her online?
Yes.
What?
(07:00):
You guys should reconnect.
Is she still?
No.
Oh.
Anyway, Mrs. Rackleman, she was my organ teacher and this song reminds me of her.
All right.
She's real mean.
Well, you know what it reminds me of?
She would put the metronome on and then have a ruler.
You guys would play songs like this?
(07:20):
No.
Why does it remind you of your organ?
Because the song has organ in it.
Yeah.
Duh.
Okay.
It reminds me of my grandma's organ.
Because it's like a double entendre.
Sure.
I'm not sure.
(07:41):
It reminds me of your organ.
The German artist Martin Gretzschmann, aka Consul, made an album in 1998 called Rocket
in the Pocket and Björk kind of grabbed me little hands all over it.
(08:02):
She especially liked to track crab crafts, so she sang some of her lyrics over it and
recorded it for Vesperteen.
(08:22):
And she did contact Consul in 2000 to get his blessings and they met in London, so what?
So what?
Okay.
Good for them.
I know, right?
So how does it flow within the album Flow?
(08:42):
It sticks out, but at the same time it kind of blends in.
Calm down.
Okay.
Yeah, it sticks out, but at the same time it blends in by being gentle and beautiful
and dreamy.
It kind of feels like she didn't want to go there, but towards the end she just like,
(09:06):
I'll just have it, let's do it.
That's the best time.
Yeah.
Okay, tell us about production.
It starts with a bossa nova beat or a samba preset, a beat on an organ, then some friendly
synths come in, including a cute chubby bass.
(09:27):
There's also some kind of reversing tricks in the production.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Which I think is a good cool contrast to the organ, which is so traditional from an electronic
perspective.
Right.
And it reminds me of the Pulsar service or Casiotone for the painfully alone.
(09:50):
Do you know them?
Yeah.
Okay.
You want to play some?
Sure.
That was nice.
What does this song mean?
(10:11):
Heirloom is about a dream Björk often has where her mom and her son Trappis walk above
her and feed her warm glowing oils for her throat.
That's sweet.
But honestly, if I saw that in my dream, I'd be scared.
Why is it oil?
(10:31):
They're trying to kill me.
I like where she says, I swallow little glowing lights.
My mother and son baked for me.
It's just a nice image.
Yeah.
I swallow little glowing lights.
(10:54):
I could see you eating glowing lights.
Yeah.
Get it girl.
And I just realized there's a lot of swallowing references in this album and songs like Cocoon,
Sun in My Mouth and Heirloom.
Okay, do you have any recurring dreams?
(11:16):
I was gonna ask you.
Well, when I was little, I used to have a lot of being able to fly and waffle dreams.
Yeah.
How come we never have waffles?
We don't have a waffle maker.
That's true.
I mean, we could get one.
Yeah.
We could be here by tomorrow.
I like waffles.
(11:36):
You do?
More than pancakes?
Yes.
Really?
Paris waffles were good.
Oh yes.
But we digress.
Yeah, live performances.
The first time she performed Heirloom live was at Coachella in 2002.
(12:06):
Were you there?
Yeah.
Did you see her?
Yeah.
And you saw that?
Tell me about it.
I don't know.
I was walking around all the different tents.
I didn't stay for her whole thing because there's other bands I wanted to see.
How many times have you been to Coachella?
(12:27):
Five.
Six times.
So that's a lot.
So I feel like you're just gonna run them all together and like, tell me about it.
I don't know.
Okay.
Do you have any recurring dreams?
No, but I always have dreams about the house I grew up in.
(12:55):
So it's like recurring settings.
Yeah, it's like I'm in high school still.
So I guess that's like a really special moment I'm trying to hold on to, I guess.
No, you're thinking back and wondering what you could have done differently.
Yeah.
If you could go to high school again, would you?
(13:16):
If you could go to one time in your life.
I asked you the question.
Yeah I'd go back.
Yeah.
Like what, just to like hang out for a day or like go back and have to relive my whole
life from then on?
Yeah relive your whole life.
Oh.
Yeah.
If I knew what I know now.
Or would you rather do one day?
No, if I knew what I knew now, I probably would.
(13:40):
Okay.
Would you?
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, the last time she performed this heirloom song was in 2013.
You sound like you're mad at it.
I am.
At the electric picnic in Ireland.
(14:04):
And what about the critics?
Well, one critic said this song feels like stepping into a surreal dreamy space.
The pulsing electronic beat kind of mirrors a heartbeat, grounding you as Bjork's voice
floats above it all.
It's intimate, introspective, like she's letting you into her personal dreamscape.
(14:28):
I guess.
It's like we're her therapist and she's telling us like where her dream is.
Girl, are you crazy?
Yeah.
All right.
Well, if you want to talk about remixes, I can tell you that my brother did a mashup
with Gabriel and Justin's Arcadia and it's cool.
(14:52):
So people can just deal.
And I think this is my brother's favorite song off the album, if I have to speak for
him.
I'm going to shut up, bro.
And Bup Midler.
Wait, can we hear that?
Yeah.
All right.
Well, Bup Midler can't top that.
(15:21):
But they did a mashup with Ayers, Alone in Kyoto.
Yeah, we talked about that on the Ayre episode.
We did.
Talking Wocky.
So check it out.
And then there's also the Heirloom redo mix, RIDU.
That's good.
(15:44):
Yeah.
Cute.
Well, you know, that's it.
We're going to move on to Harm of Will, 11th track.
This is when Bjork in the movie is in her 20s.
(16:17):
And she's first getting trafficked.
I don't want to hear about this traffic anymore.
Stop.
It's not funny.
Fine, give me your one line.
It would be such an amazing film score for that film.
Yes, this is like the heartwarming dramatic version of In Echoes Stain and a more epic
(16:41):
version of You've Been Flirting Again.
We talked about that.
Yeah.
We did it.
Yeah.
In her post episode.
Check it out.
Yeah.
And W W dot.
What's your first impression?
(17:03):
I even put that there.
I know.
Um, I thought it was a heavy tune when I first heard it, but ever so beautiful.
In filmmakers.
Just like fit in with my teen angst.
I was like, this is what I feel right now.
No one understands.
And speaking of that time filmmaker Harmony Corrine, who did gumbo and Julian, Donkey
(17:32):
Boy and Spring Breakers was hanging out with Bjork in the late nineties and wrote this
song for her called Harm of Will.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know about that.
I don't know how they met.
I'm assuming like she just saw gumbo and she was like, this shit slaps.
(17:56):
I have to meet this genius or whatever.
And she was like, she met him.
You know, if you're in with the end crowd, you're in with the end crowd.
Why did you pick this photo?
Because it's from gumbo.
I know, but why did you pick this one?
(18:18):
Because Harmony Corrine.
I know.
You don't know.
Yeah, we saw him on the thing.
On David.
He did a bunch of interviews with David.
Yeah, check them out.
They're good.
They're fun.
How does this fit with the album's flow?
Well, it's like a nice, heavy, gentle confrontation before the big finale.
(18:43):
Right.
Heavy, nice, heavy, gentle confrontation.
Yeah.
You know what that's like?
No.
It's just like, it's like, say my boss and I were like, I fucking hate you.
(19:04):
And it was just like, you know what?
I'm sorry.
It's like I'm sorry too.
You understand now?
I understand.
All right, then let's move on to production.
So there's Strings by Bjork and Vince Mendoza.
There's a choir and good old Celesta by Guy Sigsworth.
(19:36):
Anyway, speaking of Guy Sigsworth, they also have another Celesta song, which is a cover
of Joni Mitchell's The Boho Dance.
Do you like that?
(19:59):
Yeah, I like it.
I like it too.
And there are some interesting chocolate sounds of Bjork breathing in the background and she
did it just for the hell of it.
Why not?
She didn't, but she does it all for the hell of it.
Hey, she could have just like, did something like throughout the whole song and she was
(20:28):
like, why not?
You know what I'm saying?
Well, there's some, Bjork said she spent months writing the strings and she went for a less
melodic abstract approach.
(20:48):
She wanted to be clouds of exaltation, erotic energy and coming and going.
That sounds like where it's at.
Am I right?
You're right.
And it reminds me of All Is Full of Love.
(21:09):
Speaking of, have I told you about my All Is Full of Love mashup that I did with Sigurdurfs?
I mean, Royx, Royx's song?
I think that's how you say it.
No.
Their song.
Tell me about it.
Called Sparks.
Check it out.
(21:29):
I've been wanting to show you for a long time.
Why have you had that locked away?
I don't know.
(21:50):
I forgot.
What does this song mean?
Some have speculated this song is about artist slash singer Will Oldham, aka Bonnie Prince,
since he was affiliated with Homniacorine.
(22:13):
Bonnie Prince Billy?
Sorry, I call him by his first name.
Bonnie Prince Billy, since he was friends with Homniacorine Björk.
Well, someone also said it's about a libertine troubadour who indulges in casual sexual pleasure
(22:36):
with the conquests.
What kind of vibes does it give you?
It gives me Vicomte de Valmont vibes from Dangerous Liaisons, if you know you know.
Would you agree?
Have you seen Dangerous Liaisons?
(22:57):
You know, I didn't see it until kind of recently, like four years ago or something.
Wow.
It's the same as Cruel Intention.
Yeah.
Which one did you like better?
Well, I haven't seen Dangerous Liaisons, but I'm sure I would like Cruel Intentions better.
Just because I don't do period pieces well.
(23:20):
You don't.
That's true.
Unless it's on Pluto.
How would you know?
Shout out Pluto.
What period pieces have we watched together?
Because you never want to.
Okay.
What are we going to talk about?
The lyrics?
Well, I like the lyric where she says, and if he has chosen the point where she is under
(23:45):
him, then leave her coyly placed crouched sucking him for it is I with her on knee.
That's erotic.
(24:05):
This is in the Trafficking movie when she verses with the guy.
Because it feels like the part where the character has an epiphany and takes a break from their
destructive behavior for some self-reflection and evaluation on life choices.
(24:27):
And it also fits with the album's sexual theme.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We love it.
I don't know if there's anywhere that that's not considered disrespectful.
Okay.
Well, we got a critic.
We're going to talk about critics.
(24:49):
One critic said, this track is so sparse yet so powerful.
It's almost like Bjork's voice.
It's suspended in midair with only the faintest sound behind her.
What?
I wanted to bring something out and I forgot.
(25:09):
Well go get it.
Are you sure?
Yeah.
All right.
We're going to take a break.
That's really beautiful.
(25:30):
Thank you.
Thank you everyone.
We're back.
We're back.
All right.
This track is so sparse yet so powerful.
It's almost like Bjork's voice is suspended in midair with only the faintest of sounds
(25:51):
behind her.
There's a haunting beauty to it.
Something hypnotic that pulls you in leaving you wanting more.
I feel like Bjork leaves you wanting more.
Yeah, she does.
And she has a couple of remixes.
These are fan made remixes.
(26:12):
So one of them is the Nebula's Beyond remix.
Yeah.
And the other one is Dark Jedi.
(26:41):
It's actually nice.
You like that?
Yeah.
What's the IP address if they want to go to check that out?
The IP address?
You know, the website, the actual link.
Oh, I don't know.
We can share it.
We don't share links usually.
We just say the other one was the Nebula's remix and there's the Dark Jedi.
(27:05):
All right.
And they just search for it.
Well, you need to stay on top of these things.
I can tell you that Bjork mostly performed Harm of Will in 2001.
And she brought it back in 2015 for her Vulna Kura tour.
With the handpan.
I didn't care for that one too much.
(27:37):
And then she played it once more in 2021.
Harpas as Harva and Reykjavik.
It's like Harpa's like it's a woman that lives down the street.
Well, it belongs to Harpa.
(27:57):
And it was performed for her Oberstrasse shows.
All right.
That's a lovely send off.
Now let's talk about Unison.
Track 12.
I love it.
(28:24):
It's a good song.
It's yeah.
This is the longest song on the album.
How long is it?
In 45 seconds.
Calm down.
(28:45):
Well, it's the most euphoric song on the album.
So how can I be calm?
True that.
All right.
So my first impression was that is this what pop music in heaven sounds like?
You know?
(29:06):
And so Bjork wrote Unison while working on Dancer in the Dark and she was struggling with the
collaborative process of putting her music in the hands of non-music types.
You know what that's like.
Don't I ever?
I've been through it all.
(29:27):
Well, I tried to remix a song of yours and you just like when I heard it, when you heard
it you're like.
Nothing you just like, oh, no, and then we never talked about it again.
I said, well, I like your clothes.
So you're wearing right now.
All right.
(29:47):
How does this fit in with the album's flow?
It makes me it makes the perfect happy ending for an already quite positive album.
It's quite happy ending.
It's quite sugary.
It makes my teeth hurt because it's so sugary.
Did Ariana Grande really?
(30:10):
She did.
OK.
She hurt my little Ariana Grande shirt.
I mean, she's kind of trying to cosplay her as her in that picture.
But yeah, I don't.
(30:30):
Whatever.
I mean, yeah, Bjork didn't invent this.
Hold your hands together by your mouth.
Pray.
That's prayer.
She didn't invent that.
But she thinks she is.
Hating down on all these artists.
She's going to sue you for libel.
(30:54):
She'll sue me for life.
All right.
Tell me about the production.
Definitely.
This song's got everything.
It's got a harp by Zena Parkins.
She's back.
A choir by Guy Sigsoorth.
He's back.
(31:14):
And strings by Vince Mendoza.
The Triple Threat Team.
Yes.
And then it's got all the programming by Matt Moves, Val Gietzigapsson, Matthew Herbert,
Damon Taylor, Guy Sigsoorth, and Bjork.
So it's just like a big family reunion, really.
The Fespertine family.
(31:35):
That's a family I'd like to be a part of.
Speaking of Matt Moves.
Yeah.
Did I mention that when they performed Aurora with Bjork?
No.
You didn't.
Tell me.
When they performed Aurora with Bjork, they would walk in a box filled with rock salt.
(32:00):
Yeah.
And speaking of Aurora.
Wait.
I don't get it.
A box full of rock salt?
I don't know.
You told me.
Oh.
I thought they were inside of a box full of rock salt.
No.
They're walking on it.
Yes.
From the video.
A litter box.
Yeah.
They're making the crunchy sound.
(32:21):
Okay.
Well, speaking of Aurora, they should have, she should have used the sounds that come
from Auroras in the song, in unison.
Like the Aurora Borealis?
Yeah.
Have you heard the sounds?
Yeah.
It's like glassy whistling.
Yeah.
(32:41):
Well, she missed out on that.
I don't know what to tell her.
Is that what you'd tell her if you met her in person?
(33:02):
Yeah.
I'd be like, listen, I have to tell you something.
Just rub her nose in it?
That she missed out?
She'd be like, oh, oh God, what am I doing?
What have I done with my life?
Okay.
This song, unison, though, that we're talking about, it includes a sample of Aerodeck by
(33:25):
Oval from the album Systemish.
And Oval is an electronic artist that makes music by scratching CDs and making them skip.
I like it.
I have this album and if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have known what this album was.
(33:55):
So thank you for that.
Thank you.
Anyway.
What page are we on?
What section are we in?
Unison.
I know, but we're...
The production of Unison.
Got it.
Okay, I see it.
So I was saying that she played Oval in her DJ set on Live on the Breeze of Block on BBC
(34:20):
Radio in 1998.
See clap that mama.
Do you like it?
Yeah.
It's a good mix.
You should check it out.
Let's check it out now.
Okay.
(34:46):
Tell us about it.
She uses a...
She puts in a song with a Bollywood singer singing, I will always love you.
It's good.
It's got a lot of good music on there if you want to have a wide range.
She has a broad range of music.
(35:08):
She does.
You tell the kids.
All right.
Well, it also has a choral sample.
What's that sample that she uses with the choir in this song?
Where are we?
Tell me about the choir sample.
(35:30):
That's all I want to know about.
Oh, okay.
Why won't you tell me?
You want to know about the choral sample?
Yeah.
It's of VD Galallalallelujah.
All right.
Is that what you wanted to know?
(35:57):
Yeah.
Well, it's comma and while they led steadfastly toward heaven by Patrick Gowers, Andrew Lucas,
St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, and John Gavin Scott, which she did not credit on the album's
(36:17):
booklet.
So maybe because that's a mouthful and she's going to fit it on the album.
She's like, that's too much to type.
Probably what happened.
(36:42):
It's also got ice sculptures, wine-os, germs.
Where are germs?
German Smurfs.
The Teddy Rucks pin wearing mascara, an old lady wearing kid and play hair, and none other
than DJ Baby Bok Choi.
(37:03):
Sounds like our Tuesday night.
Yeah.
That's a lot.
Yeah.
But it sounds like a party I'd want to be at.
Me too.
So what does this song, Unison, mean to you?
I think it's about, well, related to the movie.
Yeah.
(37:24):
This is just where she's like, I give in.
I'm going to accept my life.
And then she realizes that that's okay.
That she's being...
She's been trafficked.
She was sold to someone.
She's stuck in that.
I don't want to talk about trafficking anymore.
(37:44):
And then she's like, okay.
Maybe who knows, but I'm falling for this guy.
I'm just going to make it work for the rest of my life.
Well, I can tell you what I think about Unison.
I think about personal growth through working with others and meeting someone halfway, no
(38:05):
matter how hard it is working with that person.
It's hard for you to meet people halfway.
Yeah.
Like finding the balance between keeping your integrity and willing to see someone else's
viewpoint.
Yeah.
But I'm saying it's hard for you to meet people halfway.
Yeah.
I don't care.
(38:27):
It's a joke said Unison that was inspired by having to compromise her creative vision
while working on the film Dancer in the Dark.
She said, I felt ready to be very collaborative, but I wrote that in the middle of the film
when I was tired of changing my tracks because some Danish person who is Lars von Trier thought
(38:51):
something.
I could see that she does not like to be told what to do.
Yeah.
She doesn't like her vision is so strong authority.
No, I'm saying like her vision, you know, when somebody's vision isn't strong, it's
easy to sway them.
Yeah.
But hers is obviously like, she has a big ego steadfast.
(39:12):
I wasn't saying that.
I was saying she's very, she has a very strong will about her vision.
Yeah.
Or none of the stuff that she does would get made.
You can tell when you're bringing your baby to someone that doesn't respect it.
And when you're bringing it to people that actually do care about it.
(39:34):
When you bring your baby to be stranger, what is the situation?
You know, sometimes you need a babysitter and I don't know.
And sad times you see those nanocams or the babysitters like shaking the baby or like
(39:58):
slapping it too hard.
And I feel like that's what happened to Björk's music here.
Anyway, Björk has said that this conflict might go back to how the Danish colonized
(40:19):
Iceland and how her father was an electrician in a union.
So she's all about coming together and not fighting.
You crazy.
What are you talking about?
Anyway, what's it?
What do you think is a good lyric?
I like the lyric.
I thrive best hermit style with a beard and a pipe and a parrot on each side.
(40:43):
But now I can't do this without you.
It is just funny.
We forgot to.
We were watching a couple of reviews earlier and the guy that said this, that was like
(41:03):
a parrot on each side.
It was like, yeah, that's the lyric.
Yeah.
And then you thought she said with a beer and a pie, beer and a pie.
That would be my preference.
Yeah.
No, and I think that's better, to be honest.
And yeah, so it just reminds me.
(41:25):
So you thrive hermit style.
Me?
Yeah.
For the most part.
I try not to.
It's not good to be a complete hermit.
Or you can't be because I'm always bugging you.
Yeah.
So.
Sorry.
It reminds me of people who are like hardcore and proud to be introverts.
(41:50):
And that's cool and all.
But at the end of the day, humans need social interaction.
Yeah.
It's just how we're programmed.
I don't know what to tell you.
And I say too much of one thing never looks, it's never good.
So if you're introvert, go outside once in a while.
(42:12):
And if you're extrovert, go home and turn the lights out.
Good night.
I think we have a good balance of introversion and extroversion.
Yeah.
We go out pretty much every weekend.
Yeah.
All the time.
All the time.
We refuse to stay in here.
(42:32):
We stay in here all day.
Let me tell you people at home.
Who are we refusing to?
Is somebody telling us to stay in here?
We're like no.
We're not going to stay in here anymore.
Now who is this person telling us to stay in?
Our work.
Our jobs.
Oh I see.
I don't know.
(42:53):
The laziness.
Yeah they suck the energy out of you.
That's true.
By five o'clock.
They're like alright we've got enough.
And then you're just like this empty shell.
Yeah.
So sad.
So sad.
This isn't a Radiohead album.
This is Bjork we're talking about.
(43:15):
How'd I get here?
And so some critics, we're going to talk about critics.
Yeah.
They say it's the perfect finale.
Unison brings together the album's electronic and orchestral layers in uplifting almost cathartic
close.
It feels like Bjork is reaching out celebrating connection and harmony.
(43:38):
A gorgeous powerful moment to end on.
Yeah I never realized it's kind of a hippie song.
But that's cool.
It's like hippie without being hippie.
It's like elegant hippie.
That's kind of a good description of Bjork.
(44:01):
Thank you.
I saw the calculations happening in your brain as you came to that.
Can you tell me about the remixes though?
Well it's been covered by Hayley Williams from Paramore and Mary May.
(44:24):
That brings us to our, what's the next remix?
It's the Unison.
It's the Electric Dandelion remix.
And you can hear that on Soundcloud.
Let's take a listen.
I can already picture how that sounds.
No you don't.
I have no idea.
(44:44):
Alright let's check it out then and see what I think.
Was it what you thought I was going to say?
No.
Okay.
(45:05):
I said my piece.
Cool.
Well what can you tell me about performances and mashups?
Oh Butt Midler did, good old Butt Midler, really like, they're loyal.
Yeah.
Did a mashup of Unison with Madonna's Drowned World, substitute for love.
(45:34):
That's cool.
I listened to that at the gym.
Okay she needs some motivation.
Anyway Bureau performed this for her Vespertine tour, her Volta tour, and once for her Biophilia
tour.
Just once?
Yeah.
And when was the last time she performed it?
(45:55):
It was in 2021 for our orchestral shows in Reykjavik.
Those have been nice to see.
Yeah.
That was COVID though.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(46:16):
So it was just like exclusively Icelandic people or people that lived there.
Okay so this is the end of the song review.
Yeah.
But.
I told you it was going to be a short episode.
But wait.
So you know how when we first start an album we sort of talk about the whole album and
(46:42):
then we go into the first song?
But we never, I realized, do like a wrap up of the album.
No.
So let's do one now.
Okay.
So yeah, what do you think of the album now that we've covered it all?
You've probably learned new things about it.
Yeah.
Still holds up.
(47:03):
I don't know.
Tell you.
Look, now that you've, because you know you'll listen to music, but when we do this podcast
we really like dive into every song and we research it and we listen to it.
So now that you've re-experienced it as part of doing this podcast, like what's new?
(47:27):
What's new about it?
Or what fills your head about it?
You know you always hear new stories along the people you meet.
They've been to this, like that concert for her or they might have known her during that
time.
Like we went to the Midway and there's a guy there who had a story about meeting the guys,
(47:54):
Matt Most, that produced some of the beats on the album and, or yeah, he got to meet
Björk.
You know what I'm saying?
What about you?
You said that you had your first kiss when you heard this album in San Francisco and
(48:20):
then now how does it hold up?
I mean it's still amazing.
I don't know.
How could you not love it?
Yeah.
I think this is a good time to talk about the retired guy that reviews.
(48:42):
I don't know.
He said he was 76 or 77.
And he watched the Unison, he watched your performance in Reykjavik, which was the last
performance of it and he was just like, Oh, I don't know what the hell I just watched.
(49:07):
Not as angry, but you're just like, what?
What the fuck?
It was so, and then, but then he started saying like, bless Jesus Christ.
You're just like, whoever watches this video.
Make sure you know the Lord.
Bye Jesus.
Yeah.
(49:27):
Okay.
So I want to play this thing that's like critic versus critic.
So we're going to hear two critics, different perspectives on the whole album, and then
we're going to talk about them.
All right.
Okay.
The first critic said, we're not for the fact that Bjork had already visited this train
so reliably on previous outings.
(49:50):
It could very well be her landmark achievement, but with the astounding homogenic behind her,
its melodies, timelessly memorable and its production similarly captivating.
Vesper teen stands only as a pleasant journey back through her usual another world.
So my summary is this person's basically saying like, it's nothing new, right?
(50:15):
Yeah.
Like it doesn't innovate in the same ways.
Yeah.
Okay.
Wait, hold on.
Okay.
So the next review says everything about this album is great, but the reason it gets you
a perfect score is because of the way it made me feel.
So many emotions bled through me while listening to this masterpiece.
(50:35):
I want to relisten over and over again, much like a good movie.
Okay.
So this person saying that they loved it.
They didn't care whether it sounded like the past album or it was derivative or whatever.
They just said, this album makes me feel amazing.
Yeah.
So one person's like, what makes it good is if it makes you feel.
(51:01):
And another person's like, what makes it good is if it sounds different.
So one's very technical and the other is very emotional.
Yeah, but sometimes sounds affect feels.
That's what you got to say about this?
Some guys are going to go with the feels one.
Wait, what do you want?
I was asking you to pick a side.
(51:21):
I was saying, it's interesting that some reviews can be like, people love it or hate it because
it makes them feel and other people are like, it doesn't feel like it was innovative enough.
They didn't even think about how did it actually make you feel?
(51:42):
Don't be so bougie about it.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
Okay.
What else about this album?
Like, how do you, what, when you think back on it now, what's, what do you feel?
Just listening to it on my CD player in my room all alone.
(52:03):
Do you know I had a mattress for a bed for a while?
Everybody has a mattress for a bed.
What are you sleeping like a father?
On the floor.
It was just like how an addict.
When you were a little kid?
(52:23):
No, when I was like 12 or something listening to this album.
That was like your aesthetic?
Yeah.
Sure.
I was just like, I'll take whatever I can get handed to me.
(52:45):
So as long as I can escape through this album.
You know.
It's getting dark.
I know.
We know it wasn't an abuse or anything.
I was just depressed.
Oh my.
You know?
I think we've said it all.
(53:06):
Yes, we said it all.
We've seen it all.
We did it all.
We heard it all.
Smelt it all.
We watched it all.
We lived it all.
Yes.
So it's time to say goodbye.
Bye.
Go home.
Bye.
Time to go Mimi's.
Take your husband, take your keys.
(53:29):
Goodbye.
Okay.
Wait.
This is the end of Vespertyne.
Oh, this is the end of Vespertyne.
Thank you for the journey.
How do you feel about that?
Thank you for taking this joy ride with us through the ups and downs, the ins and outs,
(53:54):
the snowy, icy, chilly hills, the foggy, cold moments.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye.
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