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Vespertine

[ves-per-tin, -tahyn]

Vespertine, released in August 2001, is an album by the Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician Björk. It sees Björk creating an introverted, quiet world of swirling microbeats and personal lyrics. On the cover she can be seen wearing the swan dress (designed by Marjan Pejoski) that caused a stir at the 2001 Academy Awards.

The album was originally released both on CD and on DVD-Audio in 2-channel (48khz/24bit) and 5.1-channel (96khz/24bit) advanced resolution. It peaked at number eight in the UK Albums Chart and at number 19 in the U.S. Billboard 200. It' was also nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 2002 Grammy Awards. Recently music webzine Drowned In Sound named Vespertine the number-one album of the last six years not to garner press attention. Stylus Magazine placed it 36th on their 'Top 50 Albums: 2000-2005'. Vespertine was also selected as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

The album was re-released in 2006 as a DualDisc including a lower-quality DTS 96/24 version of the original advanced resolution 5.1 mix. The DualDisc also formed part of the (____surrounded): box set.

On August 22, 2008 Björk wrote an open letter on her official website expressing her anger at the fact that Valgeir Sigurðsson has over the years been credited with writing the instrumentals for the album. She explained that he had been only an engineer and programmer, and argued that part of the reason was to do with sexism in the music industry.

Album information

Björk uses an array of sampled objects to create beats and soundscapes in a number of songs on Vespertine, including shuffling cards on "Cocoon" and "Hidden Place"; snow being walked upon on "Frosti", and ice being cracked and smashed on "Aurora".

Vespertine is Björk's longest album, at 55:33 (apart from compilations).

"Hidden Place", "Pagan Poetry" and "Cocoon" were released as singles from the album. A rumoured fourth single, "It's Not Up to You", never made it to release, presumably because of the birth of Björk's daughter Isadora.

The lyrics to "An Echo, a stain" are taken from Sarah Kane's play Crave.

The lyrics of "Harm of Will" were written by Harmony Korine and are about Will Oldham.

The last track on the album, "Unison," uses a sample of St Paul's Cathedral Choir singing a segment of Patrick Gowers's Viri Galilaei recorded in 1994.

The initial title for the album was Domestika. A song of the same title was recorded, but was eventually included as a B-side on the "Pagan Poetry" single as "Domestica", which has the original title "Lost Keys".

Early versions of the album were leaked onto the internet with some differences to the final release. Tracks were in a different order, the song "It's in Our Hands" was originally included (replaced by the instrumental "Frosti" on the final version), and some tracks appeared under different titles, including "Pagan Poetry" ("Blueprint") and "Cocoon" ("Mouth").

Track listing

"Hidden Place" (Björk, Guy Sigsworth, Mark Bell) – 5:31
"Cocoon" (Björk, Thomas Knak) – 4:30
"It's Not Up to You" (Björk) – 5:10
"Undo" (Björk, Knak) – 5:40
"Pagan Poetry" (Björk) – 5:16
"Frosti" (Björk) – 1:43
"Aurora" (Björk) – 4:39
"An Echo, A Stain" (Björk, Sigsworth, Sarah Kane (lyrics)) – 4:06
"Sun in My Mouth" (Björk, Sigsworth, E. E. Cummings) – 2:42
"Heirloom" (Björk, Console) – 5:14
"Harm of Will" (Björk, Sigsworth, Harmony Korine) – 4:38
"Unison" (Björk) – 6:47
"Generous Palmstroke" (Björk, Zeena Parkins) (Japanese bonus track) – 4:24

Samples

Statements by Björk about this album

"It sounds like a winter record. If you wake up in the middle of the night, and you go out in the garden, everything's going on out there that you wouldn't know about. That's the mood I'm trying to get. Snow owls represent that very well."

"I was bored of big beats. I'd listened a lot of it, to drill'n'bass, a lot of Rephlex stuff, the most mental cut-up shit that you could find. This is more electronic folk music, music for the home. It's corny to make a soundtrack for making a sandwich, but I quite like it. For so long I wanted to whisper. It was a watercolour as opposed to an oil. But 'Pagan Poetry' was the last song I did, and I was hungry for something physical again."

"I was collecting together all the noises that I know that are like hibernating and that sound like the inside of your head. I guess 'Vespertine' for me was going really, really, really internal and trying to make music with huffs and whispering and music boxes."

"Vespertine is little insects rising from the ashes."

Personnel

Björk – producer, programming, beat programming, basslines, string arrangements, choir arrangements, harp arrangements, music box arrangements, vocal editing
Valgeir Sigurðsson – programming, beat programming, ProTools, engineer
Martin Gretschmann aka Console (musician) – producer, programming
Jake Davies – programming, ProTools, engineer
Matthew Herbert – programming
Leigh Jamieson – ProTools
Thomas Knak – production, programming
Jan "Stan" Kybert – ProTools
Matmos – programming, beat programming
Vince Mendoza – string arrangements, choir arrangements, orchestration
Zeena Parkins – harp, harp arrangements
Jack Perron – adaptation to music box
Guy Sigsworth – programming, beat programming, celeste, celeste arrangements, clavichord, clavichord arrangements, choir arrangements
Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
Damian Taylor – programming, beat programming, ProTools
Caryl Thomas – harp
Marius de Vries – producer, programming, beat programming
M/M (Paris) – art direction, design and illustration
Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin – photography
Patrick Gowers – Composer of Vocal and Organ Arrangements on Unison
St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, conducted by John Scott – Choir on Unison

Charts

Country	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Australia	9
Austria	5
Spain	1	Platinum	80.000+
Canada	2	Gold	50,000+
Finland	3
France	1	Platinum	222,000+
Italy	2
New Zealand	32
Norway	1
Poland	6
Sweden	7	Gold	30,000+
Switzerland	3
U.K.	8	Silver	60,000+
United States	19		414,000+