Björk reigns triumphant on her tenth album ‘Fossora’
Since the release of her first album, Debut, in 1993, Icelandic musician Björk has inspired countless artists with her unique approach to music-making. She is not only wholly remarkable in both her experimentation with sound and her idiosyncratic vocal performances, but lyrically, Björk has a distinctive style that weaves confessional lines with rich natural imagery.
Her focus on nature has always been present. For example, the 1997 effort Homogenic was heavily inspired by her native Iceland. However, on Björk’s tenth album, Fossora, the musician immerses herself even further into the natural world, illuminated by her time at home during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Edified by the feeling of being grounded in her home country, Fossora bleeds warmth and sentimentality. Fossora opens with ‘Atopos’, which pounds with a ferocious beat reminiscent of 2007’s Volta. Lyrically, Björk urges hope and connection before the song, laden with clarinets, breaks down into a cacophony of percussion. It’s a blindingly powerful introduction to the album, summing up Fossora‘s incredible blend of intense musical moments with quieter yet unconventional melodies.
The track ‘Mycelia’ wouldn’t sound out of place on Björk’s 2004 album Medulla, which was made almost entirely acoustically. No lyrics are present. Instead, Björk programs her voice as the sole instrument of the track, making it sound like a piece of technology – a fusion of the natural with the mechanical.
It still slots into Fossora perfectly, leading into the next two tracks, which are elegiac dedications to her mother, Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir, who died in 2018, aged 72. Backed by a choir, the track feels religious and graceful as the musician addresses her mother with the words, “You did well”. Similarly, the soaring seven-minute track ‘Ancestress’ recalls moments between Björk and her mother with emotional poignancy, ending with the lines, “Translucent skin/ let go of a cold palm/ embalmed”.
A highlight comes in the form of a darker, brooding track, ‘Victimhood’, carried by rich clarinets and sampled fog horns that evoke the image of a desolate landscape, uncertainty lingering underneath the soil. Slowly building, the track shows Fossora at its most atmospheric. ‘Allow’ is another beautiful cut, led by flutes and featuring dreamy backing vocals by Emilie Nicolas, which contrast Björk’s earthly lyrics that speak of “the warm open wind on my skin” and “hair fossilised with salt and crust.”
Björk provides listeners with some of her most evocative and arresting lyrics to date, yet she also reminds us of her immense skill for crafting mind-blowing instrumentations. On ‘Trölla-Gabba’, chaotic and apocalyptic sounds dominate the instrumental track – it is unnerving and even slightly frightening, perhaps speaking of hesitancy and doubt. This makes sense, as Björk lets herself “freefall into your arms/ into the shape of the love we have created” on the next track, ‘Freefall’.
Following her painful split from Matthew Barney, which resulted in Björk’s devastating 2015 album Vulnicura, there is some understandable hesitancy surrounding new relationships. Yet it is clear that Björk is willing to launch herself into new love, backed by the optimism apparent in ‘Ovule’ and ‘Fungal City’.
Title track ‘Fossora’ slowly builds into one of Björk’s most impressive efforts to date, with clarinets descending into madness before hard-hitting beats fight for dominance over the musician’s voice, almost reminiscent of Biophilia‘s ‘Crystalline’, but considerably more demanding and emotionally charged. The album ends with ‘Her Mother’s House’, where Björk ponders over the fact that her daughter is now an adult who doesn’t need her mother’s full attention anymore. Joined by her daughter Ísadóra, the clarinet-led track is the perfect end to Fossora’s journey.
Almost 30 years have gone by since Björk released her debut album, yet she doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. Fossora only emphasises Björk’s enduring legacy and sheer talent for continuously making innovative creations.
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