LOS ANGELES, Nov 23 — As Bjork’s new album nears its November 24 release, here’s a look at what we know about her latest experimental effort, from the concept to the sound to the cryptocurrency tie-in.
The concept
Bjork’s most recent album, 2015’s Vulnicura, is often referred to as her heartbreak album, following on the heels of her breakup with Matthew Barney. In contrast, Bjork told Dazed magazine shortly after announcing the new album’s imminent release, Utopia is “like my Tinder album. It is definitely about that search — and about being in love.”
The sound
Bjork’s frequent collaborator Arca co-produced the album, on which flutes and woodwinds feature heavily atop an electronic sound.
We also know by way of Dazed that birdsong will play in the space between tracks, some recorded by the artist herself and other samples taken from the 1980 album Hekura, on which musician David Toop collected field recordings from 1970s Venezuela.
Hear the tracks (and see the videos) that are out so far:
The Gate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n0Ps1KWVU0
Blissing Me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHWAZNkqwN4
The look
Bjork’s album art was made by Jesse Kanda, with assistance from her along with James Merry and Hungry, and finds Bjork wearing an elaborate pearl mask and grotesque makeup.
Other visuals have shown similarly elaborate pieces: A custom Gucci gown she wears in the video for single The Gate took 550 hours to make and uses PVC plastic and lurex organza, while further images shot by Santiago Felipe show a variety of head-to-toe pastel looks.
The cryptocurrency
In a music-world first, Bjork’s record label is teaming with the British blockchain startup Blackpool to develop “crypto checkout” for Utopia, meaning preorders may be made by Bitcoin, AudioCoin, Litecoin and Cashcoin in addition to the usual cards and PayPal.
As MusicAlly explains, buyers will receive a reward of 100 AudioCoins (collectively worth around 19 cents or RM0.80 earlier this month) that will be deposited in an e-wallet. Over the next two years, those fans will have opportunities to earn further AudioCoins by “interacting with Bjork’s music, live events and digital activities.”
Utopia is available for pre-order via shop.bjork.com. — AFP-Relaxnews
