Björk - Vespertine (CD Unboxing)

Vespertine is the fourth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. Production on the album began during the filming of Dancer in the Dark, which was characterized by conflict between her and director Lars von Trier. With Vespertine, Björk aspired to create an album with an intimate and domestic feeling, deviating from the brash sonority of her previous studio album Homogenic (1997).

The musical style of the album reflected Björk's newly found interest in the minimal and intricate electronic music of producers such as Opiate, Console and the duo Matmos, who were all enlisted for the album. With the rising popularity of Napster and music downloads, she also composed arrangements with thin, "icy" sounding instruments whose quality would not be compromised when downloaded and played on a computer, including the harp, the celesta, clavichord, strings and custom music boxes. Assisted by Matmos, Björk created "microbeats" from various commonplace sounds, such as that of shuffling cards and ice being cracked. Lyrically, the album revolves around sex and love—sometimes explicitly—inspired by her at the time new relationship with Matthew Barney; other lyrical sources include the poetry of E. E. Cummings and British playwright Sarah Kane's Crave.

"Sixteen years before Björk sang of “two music nerds obsessing … sending each other mp3s,” the Icelandic producer created the first love album for the Napster age. She spent three years embroidering the “microbeats” behind Vespertine—flickering, sinewy sound beds comprising samples of domestic life—intending for it to sound good even at pirated bit rates. It was a revelation both human and technical, as Björk welcomed the world into her and her lover’s “hidden place.”

Album Tracklisting:
01. Hidden Place
02. Cocoon
03. It's Not Up to You
04. Undo
05. Pagan Poetry
06. Frosti
07. Aurora
08. An Echo, A Stain
09. Sun in My Mouth
10. Heirloom
11. Harm of Will
12. Unison