@LPMA this is an incredibly bizarre entry point. But if it didn't scare you off, you have a lot of mind-blowing stuff to discover.
Not scarred! It did however leave me strangely tingly (as if I'd just been partially exorcised ddd) which is not necessarily a bad thing.
When/if you're ready for more, listen to her album called "Greatest Hits" and, if you like that, go for the studio album whose songs in the GH you liked the most. I think you can't go wrong with that.
Atopos exists in the same realm as Army of Me, Enjoy, Pluto, Earth Intruders, Declare Independence, Mutual Core… I love her abrasive and loud songs just as much as her ethereal and melodic ones.
Exactly! And despite enjoying and appreciating the two most recent Bjork albums in all their... softer abrasiveness, it's exhilarating to hear this type of energy back in the mix.
Track lengths are out 1. Atopos 4:46 2. Ovule 3:38 3. Mycelia 2:00 4. Sorrowful Soil 3:15 5. Ancestress 7:17 6. Fagurt Er Í Fjörđum 0:44 7. Victimhood 6:57 8. Allow 5:26 9. Fungal City 4:45 10. Trölla-Gabba 1:57 11. Freefall 4:31 12. Fossora 4:19 13. Her Mother’s House 4:33 Just over 54 minutes.
Many people joke about her being unlistenable and a fairy weirdo from Iceland but honestly? The first few albums house some of the most beautiful and emotional music in the world. It has gotten more experimental with time but albums like Volta und Vulnicura aren’t avant-garde records that the usual listener would never be able to get in to. Even Medulla has songs like Who Is It and Triumph Of A Heart that aren’t conventional in their soundscape maybe but still easy to digest songs that are also stunning. I am jealous of everybody who gets to hear her finest moments for the first time. Give her a try, if only the singles for a start.
Atopos has no right to be this... addictive? I keep re-watching the video (something I haven't done with a Bjork video for some years) and the whole DOOOOOO connect is quite infectious. I guess the next episode of her podcast will be out today, for Vespertine?
Was hoping the Icelandic songs would be a bit longer (Vökuró is one of my all-time favorites) but I guess I'll just listen twice.™
I'm screaming that the longest tracks are sandwiching Fagurt, and kind of sad Trölla-Gabba is so short... I hope it goes as hard or more than Atopos!
I’ve already returned to Atopos more than anything from Utopia. It doesn’t really make sense sonically, but for whatever reason, the song feels atmospherically linked to Medulla for me? At least more than almost anything she’s released on the last few records. Maybe it’s the denser sound of the bass clarinets that give it a sense of hollowed out vocal “darkness” (for lack of a better word). I didn’t pick up on it as much on first listen watching the video, since it played more comedic to me; but listening on its own, everything sounds a little more menacing in contrast to the lyrics.
