oop. Turns out hiking in the mountains for three days and barely sleeping has fried my brain a bit.
= #70 – Vökuró (6.87)
Highest: 10 x4 (@A&E, @Mister_G, @Kuhleezi, @vikeyeol)
Lowest: 0 x1 (@Booers)
With fewer 10s, The Little Hymn That Could “loses” the tie. And just like that, with this elimination we’ve lost half of Medúlla. Honestly, I want to be upset about this one ‘cause I really love the song, but I genuinely expected it to bomb out before the likes of Show Me Forgiveness and Sonnets, so I can’t be too mad.
Its name translating as “vigil”, Vökuró is an a capella reinvention of a piano piece originally written by Icelandic composer Jórunn Viðar. The song was initially slated to appear on Vespertine using music box instrumentation, as the gradual slowing down would mimic the sound of a lullaby. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, this decidedly less dark version never saw the light of day. Instead, in its final Medúlla adaption, Björk performs alongside a 20-piece choir, and has said that translating the song from piano into vocal was “actually pretty easy… the soprano, alto, tenor and bass parts were already there”. And there’s a cute li’l story to go along with it, too! When Björk contacted her to ask permission to release the adaption on Medúlla, Jórunn Viðar commented that she must be very inspired by her daughter, as the song is addressed to a young blue-eyed girl, but Björk wasn’t actually aware of that facet of the song, and wasn’t even aware she would have a girl when originally planning to record it for Vespertine. That was one of the times at which Björk has mentioned that “everything seemed to fall into place” on Medúlla, focussing on her intuition and heart rather than thinking too hard as she had on previous albums.
Looks like
AllGagaLike wishes she’d thought about it just that little bit longer, though. “I don't dislike it; it's just not very memorable. May have been better off as another interlude.” I think it stands clearly apart from, and well above, the interludes, personally. There’s just so much depth to the sound.
Can’t Speak French doesn’t hear it though, saying it’s “interesting background music but it needs something happening in the foreground? The choral bits sound sort of like the music that accompanies the Angels in Bayonetta or Shin Megami Tensei.” I would joke about lame references but the I’ll post the song Vökuró reminds me of at the end, and it ain’t much cooler. At least
Ray likes it though, right? “Sorry, no.” … I really should’ve seen that coming by now.
Enough Negative Nellies though, on to those of you with good taste! “It's her second best Icelandic song, after Vísur Vatnsenda-Rósu”, claims
One Stop Candy Shop, “it's almost too beautiful for this world and the choir is on point.”
Txetxu says Vökuró “feels like being in a late night escapade in the country. Pitch black.”, and they get bonus points for namedropping my favourite Janet Jackson song!
constantino “feels like a Viking warrior being prepared for war by my warrior queen” when they listen to this. Björk
is the Viking warrior queen we all know and love, though. Despite not understanding the lyrics,
Zdarlight lives for the lullaby vibe, saying “I love what this song is about. Just kidding. But the melody is gorgeous.”, with
Push echoing almost the exact same sentiment: “Medulla is probably mindblowing in a live setting. The vocal harmonies in Vokuro are beautiful, but I can't say much about the lyrics, because you know.”
Finally, Queen of good taste
P’NutButter loves the song for the same reason as me, of course. “I don't understand the words, but it makes me mourn people I've lost and that's a gift.” I know it’s supposed to be a lullaby, but there’s a definite haunting, mournful tone to the song that really resonates with me, it’s one of my go-to songs when I’m feeling rubbish about things in the past and just want to be a bit reflective and melodramatic. It’s just so beautifully melancholy.
I mentioned earlier in the thread that Vökuró reminds a lot of another piece of music, and I’m not really surprised no one else got it. It’s the song “The Promised Land” that plays during the prologue and in one of the final scenes of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It must just be sheer coincidence ‘cause they came out around the same time, but some of the choir melodies are crazy similar, it’s always weirded me out a bit. It also might go a bit towards explaining why I love Vökuró so much though, ‘cause that film is
everything, y’all.
