Announced as her “Tinder album,” Utopia, Björk’s newest project, is available from One Little Indian. Inspired by heartbreak, love, and sex, the record was written by Björk and produced by Arca, and the pair co-wrote many of the album’s songs.
But the iconic artist worked with many to create her latest vision. One track is co-written by Sarah Hopkins and co-produced by Arca. Another is co-produced by Rabit. Björk formed a twelve-piece Icelandic female flute orchestra, which she wrote the arrangement for and conducted. She also wrote an arrangement for Hamrahlíðarkórinn, a choir conducted by Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir. The album was edited and structured by Björk on Protools.
Interviewing herself for W Magazine, the Icelandic artist says this about the project:
“did your dream of utopia come true?”
as weightlessness and freedom or hindrances in music making: yes! but i think the idea of the album was never to fanatically pollyanna forth some ideal perfection but rather a speculation of what our fantasies are and what the reality is and where can they help each other. have courage in going for your first choice and standing by it. i feel in this time of trump it is a necessity to have a plan, a manifesto, an alternative. it’s a question of life and death for our species. as a musician i feel i can suggest the musical poetic angle which is that after tragedies one has to invent a new world, knit it or embroider, make it up. it’s not gonna be given to you because you deserve it, it doesn’t work that way. you have to imagine something that doesn’t exist and dig a cave into the future and demand space. it’s a territorial hope affair. at the time, that digging is utopian but in the future it will become your reality.”
Watch two videos from Utopia below!
