Vulnicura

Poor Bjork, just want to give her a cuddle and a cup of tea.

Bjork has always passed me by - I recognise how talented and individual she is but nothing has ever reached me emotionally. It's sad to see though how poorly she has done with spurious 1/5 votes being handed out left, right and centre. For that reason I'm giving her 5/5 in an attempt to partially redress the balance.

This gave me so many chills. Literally made me forget to breathe once, haven't experienced this in a long time. Wanted to pick favorite songs at first, but after another listen I can't, they're all amazing.

cannot be arsed with byork at all. i get the vibe that anyone who is in to bjork is so far up their own arse that they've become a mobius loop. actually quite impressive.

Had to listen to this a few times to make my mind up on the rating I had only heard notget before going into this but yeah I still love Björk if my mood was aligned I would like it even more but its still amazing

While I can appreciate Björk as an artist, I can't say this album did much for me. A few of the songs were interesting, but it felt like it belonged more as background music for a film or something - not great listening on its own. I ended up skipping the last two songs because they were just a little grating.

It's hard to deescribe the inteeresting musicality of Bjork. It was well worth the listen whatever the hell it was

A stunning achievement - you get the sense we are hearing exactly what the artist wanted us to - a mix of digital and classical, enhanced by Bjork's incredible voice - soundscapes foreboding and consuming the listener as we are absorbed into Bjork's warped world. A work of art.

Whoa... It has the experimentation and weirdness that I've come to expect from a Björk album, but it's not quite as weird as Medúlla (The one other Björk record the generator has given me so far). There's a recognisable structure here for the most part. I loved this. It's a cinematic, emotional blend of orchestral and electronic elements, making one hell of a breakup album. I'm such a sucker for good electronic sound design, and this proved itself to be absolutely amazing in the sound design department, especially going into the second half of the album. I'd imagine much of that is from Arca's involvement? I'm certainly going to have to look more into her work. Honestly, I think I'm really going to have to look more into Björk too. I'd imagine the generator will give me more of her work before it's done, but I'm really loving everything I've heard so far. Favourite: Notget

j’écoute Björk en rentrant chez moi avec un kebab délicieux dans mon sac à main girl i am LIVING

I love Björk, even her weird stuff is brilliant. I reckon anything she does will get 5 🌟 from me. The world is a better place because Björk exists.

The vagina on her chest represents the gaping hole where her heart once existed. A fitting image for an album tackling multiple layers of emotional loss, gleaning from the experience, and moving forward. Having an idea of what to expect, I still was very surprised by this album's depth which does not fully reveal itself requiring the listener to take some time and peel it apart. Vulnicura is definitely a slow burn that works very well as a whole to the point where I couldn't tell you which song would be my favorite as all of it is excellent. I was most impressed by the arrangement of strings and synth in which Björk seemingly conjures and bends to her will, while managing to be relatable, conversational, and yet very alien. I would seriously like to know how some of these songs look on paper, how they were conceived and measured out. In all, I want to embrace the poor woman but stand in fear that she would devour me like a terrifying monster.

Another great Bjork album, and I almost like it just as much as Homogenic. Initially was on the fence as there are some songs that were hard to get into. This still holds to some extent, but other tracks like Stonemilker, Lionsong and Blake Lake are exceptionally strong and compensate for a 5-star rating.

The second Bjork I listened to on this list and another one that's blowing me away. But where Vespertine is about the beautiful sides of love, this Vulnicura is about heartache. So dark and melancholic instead of romantic and tender, but just as mystical, intimate and strong. And it's the lyrics on this album that make it complete. We follow and listen to the story of a relationship that's failing. Björk is taking us from the months before the break-up to the times after. And some of the lyrics felt like a gutpunch, where the music is amazingly orchestrated around the parts of the decaying love in every song, whether we go from melancholy to pain to anger to relief. If I regret us I'm denying my soul to grow Don't remove my pain It is my chance to heal We carry the same wounds But have different cures The album grows and shows more with every listen. What a discovery.

I know Bjork rubs a lot of people the wrong way but if you look past the perceived "weirdness" of her style, she really is a brilliant artist. 'Vulnicura' may be her most mature release to date. In her early punk and electronic releases, she was recording in toilets at clubs. Since then she's grown and explored classical structures, world music and the avant garde and brought all of that experience into this release. This is a break up album unlike any you've heard before, particularly notable as it comes from an older woman, rather than the likes of Taylor Swift. In some ways it's a shame that this challenge doesn't have more of Bjork's early work, which is more fun to listen to. But this is definitely an impressive work of art.

La fée dans la forêt

Björk's divorce album. Incredibly somber and intricate. Every sound, vocalization, timing is purposeful. More than just a mere breakup album, Bjork examines the more complex emotions surrounding divorce. Overwhelming grief and betrayal surrounds each song like a whirlwind. Goosebumps just experiencing this for the first time. How is she able to create such incredible works of art like this? Does the depths of her creative talent know no end? For all the Björk albums on this list, it gets hard to argue each one. Maybe Medúlla could've been cut, but having such a recent release be so impactful is such an impressive feat. Vulnicura earns it's spot easily.

For some reason, I lost track of Bjork's endeavours after Vespertine, but I'm glad we got this one to check out. The sweeping production has echoes of Homogenic, which I like very much, and the songs are all engaging. Terrific album.

my first björk outside of her iconic 90s trilogy of albums. stunning.

My last Bjork album (I think Post should be on the list too but what do I know) and this is a difficult one but it's about a difficult time in her life.

This record makes my knees tremble. I wanked so hard that my helmet came off.

The first song starts out with the following lyrics, choked out syllable by syllable, over seemingly random meandering synthesizer strings: “A juxtapositioning fate / Find our mutual coordinates / Moments of clarity are so rare / I better document this / at last the view is fierce / all that matters is this / who is open chested / and who is coagulated” I’m just not sure how I can take that seriously. This is the second Bork album I’ve received in the 1st 75 days. I rated the 1st at 2/5, with the comments “I thought the first couple of songs were pretty good. Sort of an ambient, ethereal feel. But with each passing song it held my interest less and less. Just not really my ‘thing’. 2/5….” Well, the second album jumps straight into the bit about each song holding my interest less and less. This doesn’t offend me, I don’t hate it. But I sure don’t like it either. As with the prior Bork album, it’s just not my thing. I’m bored by this, and that’s disappointing. Frankly, as I get further through this, it’s starting to kind of irritate me. I’m taking a break at about 1/2 way through, but I’m not expecting it to improve…. - - - - It didn’t. I admit, I gave up somewhere in the middle of the 7th song. I guess I’m just not cool enough. 1/5

This was torture.

Album by Bjork in the pretty specific style of Bjork. It might be a hit or miss at times, but oh boy, it was a massive miss on the occasion of Vulnicura. Maybe my musical taste is down in the gutter, but I just couldn't listen to it at all. I'm sorry Bjork, you are a better actor than musician.

Devastating

I remember the hype this album received when it was due to come out: "this is Björk's breakup album", "this is her most personal album ever", yada yada yada. And while most breakup albums become tedious, maudlin and vapid at times, Björk always finds a way to make things interesting. It's as though you're right in front of her as she belts out about the pain experienced in her family falling apart and you have next to no choice but to immerse yourself in her sadness that's aided by her ever reliable collaborative spirit that combines orchestration and electronics. Overall, not an easy listen but one can hope that things turn out for the best. Favorites: Stonemilker, History of Touches, Black Lake, Notget, Atom Dance, Quicksand.

Well I braced myself for yet another Björk album but thankfully it was one of the good ones. With Björk it has been either good or terrible - you don’t know if you’re going to get food or an uppercut to the chin. This one is actually one of the better better ones - cinematic - almost conventional - and a semblance of recognisable structure - so I actually enjoyed it. It’s still Björk mind you - unmistakable - but if one can tolerate her - one would like this one - and actually find reason to return to it.

This is a rather beautiful album. I can't go 5 because it's really iis an album that you have to be in the mood to hear. A solid 4 for sure.

Lionsong is cool. Bjork songs are so hit or miss to me, always these huge swings and their either connect hard or miss the mark. Atom Dance is cool.

It's Bjork, never know what your going to get. Liked not loved it

Interesting, as björk often is

8/9

Near paralyzingly brooding, but I feel like it had a hair too much bloat to earn a 5th star. But hey, Bjork really knows how to get you thinking no matter what.

So, it turns out I'm a Bjork fan

This really started off like I was really going to like it. First 3 (and maybe 4 songs) had me invested. Then it kinda just went a little too hard off the deep end and being artsy. Had a Radiohead feeling in some of the tracks. 3/5. I’d say I liked this more Stylistically then I did song wise

Tough one to rate. I liked this a lot better than Medúlla, which is admittedly a low bar. This one has some good hooks and interesting orchestral parts. I might actually like it under the right circumstances. Weirdly reminded me of the Hollow Knight soundtrack (which I loved). Unfortunately, this isn’t universal throughout. Not sure what “Family” or “Notget” were. I do think it was intentionally uncomfortable though, even though some of it id just weird for weirdness’ sake. I’ll give Björk this, though: one thing she definitely isn’t is boring.

Surprisingly accessible given her other efforts, but maybe that’s just my fatigue from the last round of singles being played constantly at the station. I will give credit to Björk for carving a niche that is unmistakably her own - while hard to nail down, the instrumentation and arrangements she builds on would be recognizable immediately in any context. This LP definitely suffers due to tracks running longer than the ideas that fuel them remain interesting, but for such an out-there album I found myself jamming along decently well. Given the fatigue that comes with listening to 1001 albums (some seemingly identical to one another in their blandness), I appreciate any artist who doesn’t give two fucks about respecting Western arrangements or ideas of what music should be, even if the execution is not always my thing or their name sounds like a lamp from IKEA.

Man orkar med några låtar men sen blir det för ostrukturerat.

As tedious as it is to have Bjork on this list so many times the one quality of her work is the string arrangements. Otherwise, please stop.

I have no idea why she's on the list so many times.

I like the versatility and vulnerability of her voice, but I don't understand her music.

Too many Bjorrrrk albums on herrrre. This isn't one of the betterrrrr ones. 🏴‍☠️

joork

I felt in love with Homogenic a long time ago, but I'm not very regular to follow Björk's work & career. But I'm generally happy to hear something from her: her universe is very distinctive and personal, and I like the way she intertwins her peculiar vocals with the music. Vunicura is a solid album, perhaps calmer than Homogenic but all the ingredients I like in her music are there. And it was refreshing to listen to her after a serie of pretty "meh" records... I even listen to it twice.

Calming and weird. First album of hers I have liked.

Once again, I'm gonna need some more dimensions in my scale. I can't compare this in any way to, say, Snoop Dogg or The Electric Prunes. This is abstract art, which I see after listening is appropriate since it was created for an exhibit at MOMA. Listening definitely feels like work. But it’s musically complex and emotionally deep and maxes out the uniqueness dimension.

Great album, love the instrumentals and the vocals.

Certamente a lista foi acerta para eu superar o preconceito com Björk. Outro disco com clima envolvente com o uso impressionante das camadas eletrônicas.

5/5 and it’s not even her best album

Absolutely amazing. This quavering, intense voice combined with the experimental song compositions has me stopping me what I'm doing to listen. I have heard some of her songs 20 years ago, but it's clear with how prolific she's been I have a lot of catching up to do.

Voce straordinaria, melodie straordinarie, 1 ora volata 5/5

I listened twice, i think it might be her best. Not everyone’s cup of tea of course.

Can understand why many don't like this but few artists can fuse this level of experimentalism with accessibility and emotional power. This still sounds like the future close to a decade on.

An element of weirdness but great

I love Bjork. She's almost certainly an alien. And I just love her work. This is such a heartbroken masterpiece. I hate to see others in pain, but I'm listening to the art recovered from the aftermath.

This grew on me so much! I love how concise and vulnerable the lyrics are. I love how the album goes from luscious string arrangements to haunting electronica over the course of the runtime. It's up there with Blood on the Tracks as an all-time great breakup album. Best Track: Lionsong Worst Track: Notget

Gut-wrenching, took me back to my past breakup. Cool IDM elements, I wish there were more! 5 stars to boost the average rating.

For a first Bjork album, I'm not sure how this compares to her other work, though from what I've heard so far, It's absolutely gorgeous. I can't really quantify it but oh my GOODNESS it is beautiful.

Björk's my favorite artist, so I was obviously very excited to get this album today. Her music touches me like no other and this especially has got me through some shit. One of my all time favorites.

Heel Emotioneel. Mooie teksten. Experimentele muziek. Top!

Love bjork but haven’t listens to this one looking forward. Great album emotional and just majestic always a treat to listen to Bjork. 9/10.

Already looking forward to giving this one another spin. It does seem to hark back to some of her earlier albums but with a modern spin I guess. Faves for now: History Of Touches, Atom Dance

Muy bonico.

Really enjoyed listening to this! This LP combines some absolutely stunningly gorgeous orchestral and ambient synth moments with energetic, creative, dark techno sounds (courtesy of Arca, who is perhaps best known for producing on the off-the-wall production showcase Yeezus). The hectic back-and-forth between beautiful/mournful and manic/abrasive moods, along with Bjork's powerful vocals, makes this a compelling breakup album. 5 stars!

One of her best. This one was a return to form, especially after putting out a series of albums that weren't bad by any stretch, but had seemed kind of formless. She sounds reinvigorated here, more emotional and ambitious than she had been in years.

This album is Björk at her most vulnerable. Written and recorded in the wake of a breakup, this album ruminates in the heartbreak and healing process showing the whole process. I found this album to perfectly show the cycle of grief which is not a cycle at all. It waxes and wanes, gets caught in though cycles, and has breakthroughs before falling back into sadness. The music is stark, jagged, and lush at times and perfectly complements the lyrics. Björk’s delivery commands attention and is halting, drawn-out, and forceful.

Muy bonico.

love so much

With some artists, I devour their discography as soon as I discover them. With others, I wait until the timing just feels right and select an album at random, like a treat. It seems the timing was right for Vulnicura, truly. I'm in a stage of life where I can really relate to and absorb the story. It may not be my favorite Bjork album (so far), but her expression of heartbreak is just so visceral I can feel it in my own chest. It's beautiful and difficult and unlike anything else I've ever heard.

This is one of those album you need multiple listens to fully appreciate. However on first listen I can tell this is very good, not perfect, but it has some very good arrangements and I really like the sound of the drums. Currently a 4.5 but I could see it becoming a 5 on future listens.

prrr prrr ptts, uuuhooo pptt ptttss rrttss

Enjoyable experience. Wonderful album. Beautiful.

She did it again. Møthër.

Bjork is good. bonus .5 points for that cat music video. rounded down though

I think it’s hard to quantify this album into numbers. It’s not an album you can replay; there’s no big hit single here, there’s no catchy one-liners, there’s not even really melodies like that. There’s just Bjork, her voice, her emotions, and her soundscape. It’s hard to enter that soundscape at first, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it turns off some people early on (it nearly turned me off tbh). If you stick to it, what you end up with is a very cathartic album – a baring of the soul of someone who’s so clearly been through so much shit that they had to get it off their chest. I do think the album could have ended on track 7 to make for a much more complete and fulfilling experience, but the last 2 tracks didn't take away from the sort of mesmerizing feeling the whole album gave me. I’m gonna give it a strong 4, and in retrospect, that’s the same rating I should’ve given to Berlin. They both do an incredible job of conveying their themes and their emotions, but I think the more personal nature of this album pushes it ahead of Berlin for me in terms of concept albums, though like I said; this is an album that you can’t really quantify with numbers. You either feel it or you don’t.

I loved the tone of this albums, instrumentation, and her voice. Beautiful album.

Whoa do I like Bjork? Kind of! Yes!

For my first Björk album, this is certainly a good way to introduce her musical style.

4.0

So far this is almost comically stereotypical Bjork stuff. Synths mixed with orchestral, variations in tempo and tonality. Her voice is rougher than previous works. I don't dislike either her voice or this album, but I don't think it reaches the heights of her debut album, Debut.

Many weird and wondrous songs.

This might just be the most depressing album I've listened to so far. And I listened to a Nick Drake album! However, that is not a bad thing. Björk's Vulnicura is a concept album of sorts, focusing on emotions surrounding a real-life breakup of hers, among a few other things in the later songs. This album is executed wonderfully. This also ended up being the most artsy album I've listened to so far. This isn't the kind of music that you or I would listen to casually during a normal day, and that's fine. Different kinds of music can serve different purposes, and this album happens to succeed at its purpose. The sound is quite interesting. I really like the usage of string instruments, and the occasional electronic sound adds even more things to pay attention to while listening. The singing, while somewhat hard to understand at times due to the vocal effects, is very good. The writing is pretty simple, but oh so very effective. You can really feel that there's a story being told, and the given emotion that a song focuses on can really shine through. It's all very personal. It is, like the past few albums I've listened to, a bit long, but it works better here since the feelings one experiences regarding a breakup last for quite a while. Overall, while this is definitely not the kind of music that I listen to, Vulnicura does exactly what it wants to do in a very unique and respectable fashion. Light 4/5.

Elegant and idiosyncratic. Vivid, painful, personal lyrics. I have to be in a particular mood to listen to Bjork, but she makes legitimately beautiful albums. I've never heard a bad one. Fave Songs: Stonemilker, Black Lake, Family, Lionsong, Atom Dance, Mouth Mantra

This is probably my least favorite of the Bjork albums that I've gotten on this list. However, the other Bjork albums I got were absolute bangers, and this album is really good, so feel free to keep feeding me the worst Bjork albums that you have 4/5

Standard Bjork, the great bits are phenomenal but then somehow loses me.

I'm pretty sure I transcended listening to "Stonemilking" for the first time.

Ongelofelijk. Bij de eerste beluistering vond ik track 1 prachtig en de twee volgende minder en dacht ik hmm niets voor mij, te donker, te depressief, te weird. Maar black lake kwam dan weer wel heel hard binnen door de prachtige stiltes tussendoor. Vervolgens wat over gelezen en nog eens geluisterd. En nog eens. De strijkers zijn waanzinnig mooi geschreven (doet ze zelf!), combi met elektronica is bevreemdend, maar smaakvol. Een zotte trip. Is meer Mahler en Beethovens late strijkkwartetten in plaats van popmuziek. Maar op de juiste plaats en juiste moment echt ongelofelijk.

I saw Björk in The Northman so I know she is a witch of some kind. Therefore I will not saw a negative word about this album. I didn't enjoy it but I don't fuck with witches.

BJORK SZN APPROACHING, FUCK WHOEVER YALL PROMOTING

Pas certain si je n'ai pas aimé ca ou non. c'est tellement speciale. C'est original et ca change de la musique traditionnelle. 4

Very special album. Nothing I'd ever would have picked out on my own, but it's super cool to listen to.

Me gusta el concepto que maneja, la voz y la interpretación es angelical y simplemente espectacular, es un álbum escuchable para cierto tipo de momentos.

I will forever be mystified by the mainstream success of Bjork, but putting that aside, this is really good mood-setting music.

The things I didn't enjoy about listening to this album (basically the hour of long, wailing, painful songs) were certainly intentional, and from that point of view, beautifully and interestingly done. The strings are particularly effective at conveying the emotions here. It's hard to rate because I also couldn't wait for it to be done.

I feel exhausted after listening to this. It was striking and beautiful, yet painful and somewhat torturous. It kind of made me want to cry, but perhaps for the wrong reasons.

Musical genius and visionary. One of the few that fit that description. As always, intriguing, challenging, and ambitious. 4 stars.

Björk is another universe. Ideal music to sit back , relax and listen. Comes the closest to whale songs and represents, i guess the wide landscapes of Iceland ( never been there). Nice album.

This one probably deserves all the praise, and Björk continues to impress with her groundbreaking vocal. But sometimes it feels like a chore to listen to a Björk album, and this was one of those times.

Vulcinura has some of the most aimless bits of Björking, vocally; The beginning's especially guilty, and the production is almost too quiet to prevent boredom. The record really picks up, though, and immaculate design with growing classical influence saves it by the end. Full of anti-bangers, really: I can only imagine being unsettled by individual cuts.

In collaboration with Arca, Bjork makes a highly atmospheric record that uses both bright baroque and dark heavy synths to create a strong electronica record. An emotionally powered piece, the choice of electronica to manipulate or duplicate her voice uses the advantage of her voice as an impressionistic instrument to express her emotions by texture. First half is ethereal and powerful, her usual glitch pop song structure. Second half becomes a lot more chaotic and horrifying, with harsher glitches and industrial sound effects. Features some techno dance tracks. All tracks are good, with moments almost as memorable and powerful as Vespertine.