Album of the Week: Björk - Fossora

Andy Warhol grossly overestimated with his 15 minutes of fame prediction. In an age where everyone is (attempting to be) world famous for 15 seconds, it’s reassuring to still have unique, singular, inimitable and divisive artists still doing their thing decades after debuting, and perhaps no artist sums this up better than the Icelandic artistic polymath who is Björk.

Twenty-nine years after her groundbreaking debut album, Debut, and five years on from her last release Utopia, Björk is back and as exploratory, experimental and esoteric as ever on her tenth album, Fossora. Inspired by her mother’s passing in 2018, followed by being locked down in Iceland during the pandemic and having “crazy DJ nights at home” where she would spin gabber (high tempo extreme techno), Fossora is as unpredictably ethereal and sometimes challenging as Björk weaves and cleverly juxtaposes elements of chamber pop and ambient with all manner of electronic influences, including aforementioned gabber. 

Speaking of gabber, the album features collaborations with a number of artists, including boundary-pushing Indonesian duo Gabber Modus Operandi, as well as an appearance from serpentwithfeet on Fungal City. A noticeable and effective repeated element is the use of clarinet across the record, courtesy of sextet Murmuri adding a distinctive and cohesive tone to the album.

With nothing left to prove at this point (was there ever?) in her career, Fossora is a joy to behold and witness a true artist at the peak of her powers crafting an uncompromising and inspiring album as only Björk can.

The best of the rest of this week's records:

Kid Cudi - Entergalactic [Universal] USA

Hip Hop

Lambchop - The Bible [City Slang] USA

Alternative

OFF! - Free LSD [Fat Possum] USA

Punk

Perera Elsewhere - Home [Friends of Friends] USA

R&B / Electronic

Pixies - Doggerel [BMG] USA

Rock

Shygirl - Come For Me [Because Music Ltd.] ENG

Pop / Electronic

Slipknot - The End, So Far [Roadrunner Records] USA

Metal

Torey Lanez - Sorry 4 What [One Umbrella Records] CAN

Hip Hop / R&B

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool It Down [Secretly Canadian] USA

Alternative