Utopia (Björk album)

Untitled
chronology
Vulnicura Live (2015) Utopia ()

Utopia is the ninth studio album by Icelandic singer-musician Björk, released on 24 November 2017 through One Little Indian Records.

Background and release

"I kind of like the fact that it's a cliché, that word [...] it has a fascistic, 'I want the world to be like this!' feeling about it, because it's a proposal (of) how we can live with nature and technology in the most optimistic way possible."

— Björk on the album's title

Björk began working on Utopia soon after releasing Vulnicura in 2015. Björk did not attend the 2016 Brit Awards on 24 February 2016 speech for International Female Solo Artist as she was busy recording her new album. In an interview published in March 2016, Björk likened the writing to "paradise" as opposed to Vulnicura being "hell... like divorce." Speaking to Fader in March 2017, filmmaker and collaborator Andrew Thomas Huang said that he had been involved with Björk on her new album, stating that "quite a bit of it" had already been written, and that the "new album's gonna be really future-facing, in a hopeful way that I think is needed right now."

Utopia was announced via social media on 2 August 2017 with a handwritten note by Björk. The announcement coincided with Dazed's autumn 2017 cover issue with Björk which included the announcement of few song titles. On 8 September, The New York Times stated that the album would be released in November 2017. The lead single, "The Gate" was announced on 12 September for a digital release the following week but received a surprise midnight release on 15 September. The same day of the single's release, Björk announced the album's title, Utopia, during an interview with Nowness, stating she had "a thousand name suggestions" and "couldn't think of anything better," but it was open to change.

On 30 October 2017, Björk was announced as one of the headliners for the All Points East music festival in London. She is scheduled to perform on 27 May 2018, her first confirmed live gig during the Utopia era. The following day, the release date of the album was finally announced, 24 November, in addition to the reveal of the Utopia album cover, which was done by Jesse Kanda, Arca's frequent collaborator and director of Björk's 2015 "Mouth Mantra" music video with silicone mask designed by frequent collaborator and mask maker James Merry. On 2 November, another live date was announced, this time at the Aarhus in Denmark as part of the Northside Festival, to be held on 7 June 2018. Björk first performed at Aarhus on 9 September 1993, the third night of her first concert tour as a solo artist.

On 2 November 2017, it was announced that those who purchase the album will receive cryptocurrency in the form of 100 audiocoins (with a value of about $0.19), through a partnership with British blockchain startup Blockpool. The tracklist for Utopia was confirmed on 10 November 2017 by Pitchfork.

On 14 November 2017, Utopia's second single, "Blissing Me", was released as a digital download only. The music video, directed by Tim Walker and Emma Dalzell, was released the following day exclusively on Amazon before being made available on YouTube. Both the song and video were well received by music critics.

Composition

With fourteen tracks in total, Utopia clocks in at 71 minutes and 38 seconds, making it the longest of Björk's studio albums to date. The first comprehensive media coverage on the album came from an article published by Dazed. Björk stated that her new album is an exploration of utopia, with its writing process coinciding with her own personal, political and environmental concerns. She made headlines by describing the record as her "Tinder album". She later clarified her comment, saying that the album would cover a different emotional terrain than her last record which she constantly referred to as her heartbreak album.

"I obviously saw a gigantic musician in him, and I felt that he had gone into my world with such elegance and dignity and interpreted it, helped me (with) what was there, that I wanted to meet on a more equal basis. Of course it is my album for sure... but just as a pure musician, we decided to enter this other world and this other island which is the Arca/Björk overlap."

— Björk on her collaborative process with Arca on Utopia

The Dazed article revealed just how involved Arca, co-producer on Vulnicura, was on Utopia. Unlike their previous collaboration where Arca came on board after all the songs and string arrangements were written, the new album saw them collaborating from the start. Arca had encouraged her to pursue a direction she'd hinted at on obscure cuts like "Batabid", a "Pagan Poetry" B-side, and "Ambergris March" from Drawing Restraint 9. According to Björk, their collaboration was "a musical conversation that was cross-generational, cross-Atlantic, him encouraging me to go into this area that I sort of suggested years ago, but didn't necessarily go all the way,"

Björk said that air was a conscious, stylistic choice for the album after frequently composing for strings arrangements in her previous work: "I started a 12 piece Icelandic flute section and spent a few months recording and rehearsing with them [...] We decided to have synths that have a lot of air sounds in them and flutes that sound synthy." She said the melodies were composed while out walking in the Icelandic wilderness, and once she had completed the melodies, she wrote the flute arrangements, later superimposing melodies. The lyrics were the final element in the songwriting process. The Dazed article went on to reveal that the tranquil sounds of bird calls bridge a number of the tracks together, a similar flourish to her 2007 album, Volta. These sounds came from original field recordings by Björk herself but were also sampled from David Toop's 1980 album, Hekura, which Björk considers as one of her favorite albums.

The Dazed article revealed many song titles including lead single "The Gate". "'The Gate' is essentially a love song," says Björk, "but I say "love" in a more transcendent way. Vulnicura was about a very personal loss, and I think this new album is about a love that's even greater. It's about rediscovering love – but in a spiritual way, for lack of a better word."

Two additional song titles were released by Dazed, "Loss" and "Features Creatures". "Loss" was co-produced by Texas-based producer Rabit, who stated that the song was his first outside production work, and that the song serves a reminder of "how force of will is the ultimate force." "Features Creatures" talks about seeing someone with the same accent as a lover.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	79/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
The A.V. Club	A
Consequence of Sound	B+
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly	B+
NME
Pitchfork	8.4/10
The Skinny
Slant Magazine
Uncut
The Guardian
Folha de S.Paulo
Rolling Stone Australia
Exclaim!	9/10
Drowned in Sound	8/10

Utopia has received critical acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Vulture.com praised the album's "many layers", saying Utopia "surveys the finer points of new romance, from profound to mundane".

Entertainment Weekly called the album "almost completely a sensory experience".

NME awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars, complimenting the album's "lushness", with "every track at once hopeful but haunting".

The Guardian also gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, describing Utopia as "lush and airy", as opposed to Vulnicura.

Stereogum gave the album a positive review and said that "Björk ascends to a paradise of her own design".

Consequence of Sound wrote that Björk "returns with a thriving sound world rich in nuance and detail".

Drowned in Sound rated the album 8 out of 10, stating that Utopia is "extraordinarily gripping and majestically consistent".

Boston Globe found the album "both resolutely avant-garde and absolutely beautiful" and gave it a score of 9 out of 10.

The A.V. Club called the album "wondrous and intense" in their review, giving it an "A" score.

The Wall Street Journal labelled the album as "exquisite".

Crack Magazine saw the album as "another triumph" for Björk.

Exclaim! felt that the album is like "a journey that defines and affirms who Björk is", awarding it a score of 9 out of 10.

Rolling Stone Australia wrote a perfect 4-star review on the album, praising its "blissful moments", stating that "it's the best kind of utopia there is".

Pitchfork.com found the album to be "deeply personal, with unerring elegance and passion".

Folha de S.Paulo gave the album 5 stars, describing Utopia as the opposite of the las album Vulnicura, Björk doesn't succumb to pain and thus escapes from the dark cave that she recorded the video for "Black Lake".

Track listing

All lyrics written by Björk.

Utopia

No.	Title	Music	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Arisen My Senses"	Björk Arca	Björk Arca	4:59
2.	"Blissing Me"	Björk	Björk Arca	5:05
3.	"The Gate"	Björk Arca	Arca Björk	6:33
4.	"Utopia"	Björk	Björk Arca	4:42
5.	"Body Memory"	Björk	Björk Arca	9:46
6.	"Features Creatures"	Björk Sarah Hopkins	Björk	4:49
7.	"Courtship"	Björk	Björk Arca	4:44
8.	"Losss"	Björk	Björk Rabit Arca	6:51
9.	"Sue Me"	Björk Arca	Björk Arca	4:57
10.	"Tabula Rasa"	Björk	Björk Arca	4:42
11.	"Claimstaker"	Björk Arca	Arca Björk	3:18
12.	"Paradisia"	Björk	Björk	1:44
13.	"Saint"	Björk	Björk Arca	4:41
14.	"Future Forever"	Björk Arca	Arca Björk	4:47
Total length:				71:38

Vinyl edition

Side one

No.	Title	Music	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Arisen My Senses"	Björk Arca	Björk Arca	5:01
2.	"Blissing Me"	Björk	Björk Arca	5:04
3.	"The Gate"	Björk Arca	Arca Björk	6:34

Side two

No.	Title	Music	Producer(s)	Length
4.	"Body Memory"	Björk	Björk Arca	10:12
5.	"Losss"	Björk	Björk Rabit Arca	7:13

Side three

No.	Title	Music	Producer(s)	Length
6.	"Utopia"	Björk	Björk Arca	4:45
7.	"Saint"	Björk	Björk Arca	4:43
8.	"Courtship"	Björk	Björk Arca	4:52
9.	"Sue Me"	Björk Arca	Björk Arca	4:57

Side four

No.	Title	Music	Producer(s)	Length
10.	"Tabula Rasa"	Björk	Björk Arca	4:42
11.	"Claimstaker"	Björk Arca	Arca Björk	3:19
12.	"Paradisia"	Björk	Björk	1:42
13.	"Features Creatures"	Björk Sarah Hopkins	Björk	4:41
14.	"Future Forever"	Björk Arca	Arca Björk	4:46
Total length:				72:30

Notes

• The segue between "Blissing Me" and "The Gate" contains a sample from "Guanare/Barinas" by Jean C. Roché.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Utopia.

• Björk – vocals, production, programming, digital flute, flute arrangements, vocal arrangements, choir arrangements, cello arrangements
• Arca – production, programming, electronics, synth melodies, beats
• Rabit – production (track 8)
• Hamrahlíðarkórinn – choir
• Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir – choir conduction
• Katie Buckley – harp
• Júlia Mogensen – cello
• Hávarður Tryggvason – contra bass
• Robin Carolan – the fifth ear
• Sarah Hopkins – harmonic whirlies (track 6)
• Heba Kadry – mixing (tracks 2, 5–8, 11)
• Marta Salogni – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 12-14), vocal mixing (tracks 2, 8)
• Bergur Þórisson – engineering, flute recording engineering, choir recording engineering, harp recording engineering
• Bart Migal – engineering
• Chris Elms – engineering, harp recording engineering
• Mandy Parnell – mastering

Flute players

• Melkorka Ólafsdóttir
• Áshildur Haraldsdóttir
• Berglind María Tómasdóttir
• Steinunn Vala Pálsdóttir
• Björg Brjánsdóttir
• Þuríður Jónsdóttir
• Pamela De Sensi
• Sigríður Hjördís Indriðadóttir
• Emilía Rós Sigfúsdóttir
• Dagný Marinósdóttir
• Sólveig Magnúsdóttir
• Berglind Stefánsdóttir
• Hafdís Vigfúsdóttir

Artwork

• Björk – creative direction
• Jesse Kanda – creative direction, cover art, photography
• James Merry – creative direction, facepiece
• Juliette Larthe – artwork production
• Ken Kohl – avian fetus photography
• Hungry – make-up
• Raphael Salley – hair
• M/M Paris – creative direction, typography, digital illumination