A cold, hypnotizingly romantic record, “Vespertine” is Björk’s magnum opus.
Björk spent the 1990’s developing a complex trip-hop sound. 1995’s “Post” built on the alternative dance sounds of 93’s “Debut”, adding a stronger electronic influence. This sound was pushed fully with 1997’s “Homogenic”, a grand, maximalist record combining her bombastic electronic sound with dramatic string sections and passionate vocals. It’s one of the defining records of the 1990’s and one that would have been hard to push past. Björk had pushed her sound as far as it could feasibly go, so what could she do now? Instead of making Homogenic 2.0, Björk instead made something completely different, the result being 2001’s “Vespertine”.
Vespertine is a mesmerizing, one of a kind album. The record sees Björk trade the maximalist production of Homogenic for a more minimalist sound featuring various “microbeats” as Björk labeled them. Other sounds include music boxes and various cold, pristine sounds. The record has a very cold, fairytale-esque atmosphere, sounding like a dream in the depths of winter. The atmosphere is one comparable to “The Nutcracker” or “Swan Lake” in my opinion, feeling as cold as Björk’s native Iceland. The main themes of the record are love and romance, a contrast to the cold sound of the record compared to these warm emotions. This atmosphere and theme permeate every single song here.
The record opens on “Hidden Place”, beginning with a minimalist, warping beat before introducing background harmonies and a larger-than-life scope. It describes Björk escaping to a hidden place with her lover, what I take as a metaphor for the personal nature for love. This intro is followed by “Cocoon”, another deeply romantic track featuring one of the most minimal and gorgeous beats on the entire record. It is a very cold, subtly hypnotizing track. Next is “It’s Not Up to You”, the most warm and fun moment on the record, the closest thing to a true pop song on the record, being about letting love happen on its own. Following this we have “Undo”, a nice contrast to the bright, upbeat sound of the previous track, featuring another minimalist beat that grows to featuring layered vocals and talks of love not having to be a strife or stress. Ending the first half of the record is “Pagan Poetry”, the most grand and dramatic song of the record, featuring a booming beat underscored by strings and music box accompanied by bouts of layered vocals. The song conveys many emotions and grows in intensity before coming to a stop, ending on a mantra declaring her love.
The interlude “Frosti” opens the second half of the album, being one of the most stunning moments of the record. It is a song that captures the wonder of winter through its music box melody. Stunning in every sense of the word. Frosti leads into “Aurora”, one of the records most entrancing moments. The song describes is as beautiful as the titular lights that share the same name, containing some of Björk’s most stunning vocals. “An Echo, a Stain” is one of the weirdest, darkest moments on the record, containing a warping beat and intense vocal build. 9th track “Sun in My Mouth” is one of the shorter tracks on the record, containing a beautiful build in intensity and further showcasing the atmosphere of the record.
“Heirloom” features a throbbing bassline and is one of my favorite instrumentals on the entire record and expanding as many of the songs here do, an absolute highlight. “Harm of Will”, the penultimate track, is the only weak point of the record in my opinion. It’s not doing much different than many of the other tracks here and slows down the pace at a moment where it should be intensifying. Not a bad song at all, but just ok on a record full of many great songs. Ending the record is “Unison”, the longest song here. It starts off minimally before expanding into one of the most fun beats on the entire album. The theme of unity in the song nicely ties up the central themes of romance and love, ending the record on a very positive note.
Vespertine sounds like no record before or after it, it’s truly one of a kind. It’s warm and cold at the same time, intense and weird but equally inviting. The record has a strong argument to be made that it is the best art pop album of all time, and it’s a claim that I wouldn’t argue against. Without Harm of Will I truly believe that the record would be a 10/10, but even so it is still a masterpiece very worthy of your time, and it’s a great way to get into the music of Björk. If you still haven’t listened to Vespertine, what are you doing?
Highlights: “Hidden Place”, “Pagan Poetry”, “Heirloom”, “Aurora”
Weak Points: “Harm of Will”
