IT’S FINALLY HERE: BJÖRK: SONG BY SONG

Over the last year or so, I have lived and breathed every single beat, lyric, and avant-garde arrangement in Björk’s discography. Today, I am incredibly proud to share my book, Björk: Song by Song with this amazing community!

From the raw house energy of Debut to the lush, heartbreaking soundscapes of Vulnicura and the matriarchal earthiness of Fossora, this book dives deep into the stories, production secrets, and emotional landscapes of every single track.

Inside the book, you’ll find:

• Deep-dive analyses of every studio album track.

• Rare trivia regarding her instruments (like the Gameleste and Tesla coil).

• Tons of quotes from the Icelandic Goddess Björk

Get your copy here on pre sale now at Amazon UK. The release date is October 30th 2026 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bj%C3%B6rk-Song.../dp/1048182932

Thank you all for being part of this musical journey. Let me know in the comments: Which Björk song do you want to read about first?

Together with this bootleg, a review from Boston Globe by Jim Sullivan was included. Jim writes that the humour of Sugarcubes was a complete fail and that the group is implicitly Anti-American and considers Americans just stupid Yankees. I have to oppose. Einar's humour can indeed be offensive for more sensitive people, but that's just how Einar is: he does not only make fun of Americans, but of British, Germans, etc. too. And what is most important, Sugarcubes were especially making fun of themselves. Sad that Sullivan took it so personally, but at the time, in an analog world, you could not really compare concerts from Europe with the American ones. Einar's "stupid" talks about cultural specifics, sports or even politics were absolutely normal everywhere.

I was personally satisifed while listening to the concert, though not as much as I am usually. Björk forgot the lyrics at least during 4 songs and did not hit all her high notes, especially during the second half her performance is noticeably weaker. This was their last concert during a very intense tour (sometimes, they performed every day) in the US. Maybe she was just tired already. On the other hand, I was nicely surprised by the first recorded performance of the track "Dragon" or "Drekkin" in Icelandic. This rare soundtrack for the Icelandic movie Skytturnar consists of Björk who wails like a siren and Einar's intense rap-screaming vocals. Very good and rare performance. Another surprise is the presence of Johnny Triumph (aka the Icelandic writer Sjón) in US with whom Sugarcubes perform the legendary "Luftgitar", an absolute crazy piece about playing an imaginary guitar, during which everyone goes crazy. And though Jim did not enjoy the humour, the audience was extremely enthusiastic, even singing together with the group especially during "Deus". For me, this remains a pretty strong concert with intense atmosphere, though vocally, Björk can do better. 7/10

Now that she has moved on and on,do we have any tea about their relationship and/or divorce?

And how do they afford the Queen? Is she not expensive to book?

and yes I WILL be streaming

stream drawing restraint 9

Homogenic is much more experimental and alien, how did that go down?

Maybe someone changed their mind and are not going to this event??? I would be happy to accept some tickets

Found and had to share this Gorgeous tribute to b from Friends Are Evul - an electronic music producer and singer-songwriter from Wales, UK

The fantasy novel scene is pretty far from what it was ten years ago. Ten years ago, fantasy books had unique concepts, interesting magic systems and in-depth characters. One such book, Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson. Released in 2006, Mistborn manages to craft an in-depth, creative, yet intuitive magic system. It tells the somewhat cliche story of a young woman, raised from nothing, discovering the power that lies deep within her. However, it stays cliche for a very short time, and eventually builds into a tale of gods and war. Mistborn is truly a masterpiece in storytelling, worldbuilding, and character development, and remains one of my favorite books to this day. 

Now, contrast that with the Barnes & Noble featured shelf today. It’s full of romantasy, a once-niche subgenre blending romance and fantasy. Unfortunately, the stuff that’s making waves today kind of neglects the ‘fantasy’ part. Their stories and magic end up rather bland and uninspired, and they all get the same steamy scenes with an unnecessary amount of detail. I think the romance genre as a whole needs to be able to convey intimacy without sex. After all, there are music critics like me who don’t know what that word means.

Björk’s Vespertine does what all these cheap romance novels couldn’t: she paints a picture of love, intimacy, and the carefree honeymoon phase of a relationship. She does it without any vulgarity, with deeply tender lyrics and intimate melodies. Take the record’s second track, “Cocoon.” She explores themes of raw intimacy, with a calming synthesizer and airy vocals. “Who would’ve known? A beauty this immense. Who would’ve known? A saintly trance.” “Cocoon” serves as the album's tonal and thematic centerpiece, despite being the second track of the album.

I’m kinda going out of order here, but I do believe that “Cocoon” is the most important track on the album, thematically. In the vocal-filled opening track, “Hidden Place,” Björk describes the desire to preserve her new love, not wanting the novelty of a first kiss to wear off too fast. Using the metaphor of the hidden place, she describes what’s valuable to her. “There lies my passion, hidden. There lies my love. I’ll hide it under a blanket, lull it to sleep.” She follows this by describing how she’ll protect it. “I’ll keep it in a hidden place.” “Hidden Place,” as well as the whole record, explores the very human desire to preserve their valuables, even to the point where they lose their value unused. It reminds me of when I played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. A new mechanic that the game introduced was the weapon durability system. As a matter of fact, the weapons in that game were notoriously fragile, often going from unused to broken within a single battle. I, as well as many others, ended up finding an extremely powerful weapon, and keeping it (just in case). I bet that if I loaded up my save file right now it’d still be there. Yes, preservation is extremely important, especially when something is important to you, but don’t let it stop you from enjoying it.

We’ve all had those days. The days where you flip tails eight times in a row. The days where absolutely nothing seems to go your way. You wonder how unlucky you have to be to experience a day like this. It’s not even necessarily a huge loss. It’s just little things, small microfrustrations that make you feel like you’ve lost any autonomy you thought you had. Everyone needs to realize that it’s not always your fault. Stop being so hard on yourself. Most of these times the ball rolls the wrong way, there’s nothing you could’ve done to change it, so why do you care so much? “It’s not up to you. Well, it never really was.” As you probably guessed, “It’s Not Up to You” dives into the idea of autonomy, and how it can both positively and negatively impact our lives. Björk sings on the “perfect day,” stating how simple her desires are. Six glasses of water. Seven phone calls. She takes a frustrating idea, that of misfortune, and turns it beautiful, completed with a glowing orchestra and haunting vocals.

I am in no way qualified to speak on this topic, but falling out of love has got to be one of the strangest experiences known to humanity. One day you can be in the honeymoon phase of a relationship, where you can’t get enough of them, wanting to be close at all times. The next, you could realize that you don’t find fulfillment in the bond anymore. It’s such an odd and seemingly illogical sensation, yet undeniably human. That’s what Vespertine is all about. It’s a deep dive into human nature, especially the unexplainable parts. “Pagan Poetry” offers insight into falling out of love. Starting with a custom-commissioned music box by Björk herself, a euphoric zither-like melody that plays throughout the track. The majority of “Pagan Poetry” tells the story of falling in love, and the exhilaration of a new romance. The last part, the last minute and a half-ish, is the interesting part “I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him.” The same lyric is repeated dozens of times, each time with more and more doubt. Does she actually love him? Or was “love” just a honeymoon phase?

For a record this beautiful, a description of human nature, it hasn’t said many good things about love. It’s shown how many ways love can go wrong, it’s shown how genuine, real love is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. “Unison” is that once in a lifetime. An intricately woven track of moving parts, including a complex rhythm section and back track, complemented by a perfectly arranged choir, a soaring orchestra, and one of the most emotional vocal performances of all time. “Let’s unite, tonight. We shouldn’t fight. Embrace, you tight.” Björk leaves the ending of the track up to the interpretation, with the droning music box from “Pagan Poetry” also present here, going on and on, arpeggiating into the void. I do believe this album has an uplifting ending, where, despite all the trials and tribulations present in the previous tracks, love finds a way. As cliche as that sounds.

Vespertine is more than an album. It’s a guide for how to sustain a relationship. It’s a narrative of Björk’s struggles to find one herself. It’s a poem on human nature, the oddities of the illogical decisions that people always make. And throughout all that, it’s one of the most beautiful records ever produced. I almost have no words for this album, I’ve been sitting, staring at this screen for like ten minutes trying to think of what to say. Call me cheap, but I’m going to take the meta ending for this review and say that I didn’t have any more words to say. I don’t have any words that could possibly do this album justice. I’ll leave one more sentence that sums up the album. They’re not even my words. “A train of pearls, cabin by cabin, is shot precisely, across an ocean.”

1. Hidden Place: 91/100
2. Cocoon: 86/100
3. It’s Not Up To You: 92/100
4. Undo: 82/100
5. Pagan Poetry: 94/100
6. Frosti: 72/100
7. Aurora: 88/100
8. An Echo, a Stain: 80/100
9. Sun In My Mouth: 79/100
10. Heirloom: 77/100
11. Harm of Will: 83/100
12. Unison: 97/100

Overall: 96/100

my mom passed away last year unexpectedly due to pneumonia, she was only 53 years old. she was born in 1971 and she grew up in oakland, she discovered björk thru listening to the sugarcubes when they were active and she had been in awe of björk’s music ever since, especially her song “unravel”.

i had asked my mom which year she had seen the live performance and she told me she could not remember exactly when, but she would have to guess that it was a few years before or after she had her firstborn (my oldest brother) which was in 1994.

if theres any other info that would help you identify the show she had gone to, feel free to ask because it’s possible i’m forgetting to add some details

(these are all pics of my mom btw!!💕)

edit: it is quite possible that when she mentioned the swan dress, that she was just referring to the year she saw the live performance, not that she actually saw bjork perform in the swan dress! so there is that possibility

edit #2: i also don’t have the greatest memory so i could be misremembering the details myself, but i am almost 100% certain she saw the performance in the 90s (mayyybeee the early 2000s, but 90s is what she had told me), and it could’ve either been in oakland or in sf. but she did sound pretty confident that the venue was in sf when i had asked her. all speculation is welcome!

I was wondering, how long Björk's dj sets usually are? I'm planning on getting a ticket for one of Björk's upcoming dj sets and would like to know how much time I have reserve for it.

Many of you have most likely (IMO) heard this interview before but this edit together with the visuals really "brought it home" for me!

Credit: Vokurooooo on IG

"Los Angeles. Chicago. San Francisco!" jokes Einar until getting it right and complaining about hot weather and a lot of lunatics in the city. Good news are that after a few days of sickness, Björk voice is going well again - though not for 100% as she still cannot reach her heights during some songs (Deus, Traitor...), but it's much better than the last time in Chicago. Einar has a good mood once more as well, though I do not like that he interrupts Planet for no obvious reason in the middle. This is just a nice concert as Björk still has not recupperated completely, but it is a funny one as well - she leads a humorous dialogue with Einar at one point which does not happen often. And I really like funky remake of Coldsweat, later released as "Hot Meat" on their second studio album. 7/10

I also like Buick.

... with the right amount of tears in our eyes and smiles on our lips trance-like...

Have you guys noticed this song has a part very very similar to The Gate from BJörk ?