Remembering Björk’s unique collaboration with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke
Both Björk and Thom Yorke rose to prominence around the same time, with the Icelandic singer’s band, The Sugarcubes, forming only a year after Radiohead. However, whereas Björk’s 1995 album, Post, experimented with energetic, house-inspired pounding beats and audacious vocal performances, Radiohead’s The Bends, released the same year, was decisively more melancholic – dwelling on longing, consumerism, and isolation.
Despite the sonic differences between their music, over the course of their careers, their lyrical content has become more and more similar, with Björk’s 1997 album Homogenic, released the same year as OK Computer, exploring similar thematic territory of urbanity and social/emotional isolation to the British band.
Yorke has even claimed ‘Unravel’, the third track from Homogenic, as his favourite song of all time. He once described the minimalistic track by saying: “I think it’s one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.” With a deep respect for each other’s work, it wasn’t long before the pair collaborated on a song of their own.
In 2000, Björk enlisted Yorke to join her on the song ‘I’ve Seen It All’, taken from the soundtrack for Lars von Trier’s harrowing film Dancer in the Dark, which starred the Icelandic singer in the leading role. Yet this collaboration remained the only musical exchange between the two until 2008 when Björk dropped the single ‘Náttúra’.
Featuring rolling drums courtesy of Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale, which become the core focus of the song’s instrumentation, Björk sings in Icelandic about the importance of nature. Bringing the whole song together are the haunting backing vocals that whir in the background, unmistakably belonging to Yorke.
The single was released to raise awareness for the protection of the Icelandic environment, with the song taking its name from the Náttúra Foundation, which received all profits generated by the track. A press release explained that the track is “more of a protest and rallying cry rather than a lecture.” It also marked Björk’s first track to be sung entirely in her native tongue and remains an underrated gem in her discography.
However, it has been hotly debated whether Yorke actually appears on the track due to his management denying the singer’s involvement in recording any new music at the time. Yet, Björk’s publicist confirmed that Yorke contributed the backing vocals via file-sharing that summer. Regardless, the song is marvellous, and the combination of Björk, Yorke and Chippendale is one that should definitely happen again.
