Björk: Pagan Poetry
Iceland, a Land of Myth, High Winds, Volcanic Fire and Arctic Ice
Classically trained in piano and flute as a child, Björk's musical legacy would begin early. Her school teachers would go on to send a recording of her performing at a recital to a local radio station, with the young Björk catching the attention of a local record label, setting her musical journey in motion.
After releasing her first album at just 11 years old, featuring Icelandic songs alongside covers of international artists, she went on to explore various bands as punk and new wave began taking hold in Iceland. One of these bands, the Sugarcubes, released their debut album, Life’s Too Good, in 1988, gaining international attention and touring extensively, including North America. Their final studio album, Stick Around for Joy, came out in 1992.
The Sugarcubes disbanded thereafter, and Björk moved to London to embark on her solo career. With sketches of songs waiting in her back catalogue — fragments of earlier explorations, inspirations, feelings and poetic discoveries — what was waiting now needed the right collaborators. The challenge was to find a way for Björk’s artistic vision and unmistakable voice to be heard in all its primal glory, and see these songs to life.
Björk at MoMA, 2015. Photograph: sashimomura, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Of this earlier time writing songs Björk has spoken about setting herself targets and practicing for hours in churches, or out immersed in nature, to feel the inspiration and release what was stirring within.
“I would set myself a target, and then I would go and improvise
and write one song and record it on my Dictaphone.”
Debut
Fascinated by the emerging Manchester dance and club scene during her Sugarcubes days, Björk appeared on 808 State's 1991 album ex:el, forging a connection with band member Graham Massey. This got the ball rolling for fleshing out a couple of songs, before Björk met Nellee Hooper, whose production credits included Soul II Soul and Massive Attack. Despite some initial reservations, they decided to write one song together, then another, and from there, the collaboration blossomed into an album.
Björk has reflected that she and Hooper came from very different musical backgrounds. We can hear that point of difference across Debut: seemingly opposite ends of the musical spectrum fused together to produce something unexpected and distinctive for its time. The album peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart.
Working with programmer Marius de Vries, the production team brought together Björk's melodies, unusual vocal phrasing and acoustic and classical instincts with sampling, keyboards, synthesizers, house, techno and club production.
Debut drew from electronic pop, house, jazz and trip-hop, refusing to sit neatly within one genre.
“On the surface simplicity
But the darkest pit in me
It's Pagan poetry
Pagan poetry”
― Björk
Post
Post would follow in 1995, giving Björk another opportunity to bring some of the songs and ideas that had accumulated in her back catalogue into the world. I'm sure it must have been a cathartic and exhilarating experience to step inside these worlds that had existed on paper, Dictaphone and Walkman, and emerge with them transformed into fully realised, moving, sounding and visually complete artworks.
Post would also expand the collaborative circle. Alongside working with Nellee Hooper again, Björk brought Graham Massey back into the fold and invited Tricky and Howie B into the creative mix.
With the expanded team, we can hear a powerful, confident sound emerging, rich in texture. In “Army of Me”, this is evident in the electronic beats, creating friction and bursts of surprise that complement the lyrical storyline. A song written about tough love and a friend who had fallen into laziness, where self-sufficiency rather than self-pity was seen as the only way to prevent further emotional self-indulgence.
“And if you complain once more
You’ll meet an army of me”
— Björk
The contrast between the industrial force of ‘Army of Me’ and the more sublime ambience of ‘Possibly Maybe’ demonstrates just how far Björk could stretch her sound, moving from abrasive electronic textures to something intimate, atmospheric and almost weightless.
Homogenic
Björk's music would come to embody Iceland’s purity and contrasts, shaped by its raw, otherworldly landscapes and elemental forces.
In 1996, Björk moved to Spain, seeking solitude and the space to turn inward, shaping the new songs that would emerge from this period of experimentation. Away from the pressures of London, Spain became a place of isolation, experimentation and productive rest. Looking back, she described Homogenic as a conversation with herself: an attempt to ask who she had become and to reconnect with the musical roots she had once pushed aside.
The resulting album was intentional: beats, strings and voice as the palette. Björk wanted the electronic rhythms to feel distinctly Icelandic, raw, explosive and almost volcanic, imagining what Icelandic techno might sound like at its roots. Homogenic created a conversation between the physical pulse of the beats and the emotional, expansive quality of the strings.
That connection to Iceland became particularly authentic through the Icelandic String Octet. Several of the musicians had attended the same music school Björk had studied at as a child. Violinist Sigurbjörn Bernhardsson later described Björk's use of fifths, an interval frequently found in Icelandic folk music, as part of what gives the music its distinctly Icelandic character. In Hunter, for example, two cellos play a two-bar motif a fifth apart; in Jóga, parallel fifths similarly create an open, spacious quality that evokes the vastness and solitude associated with the Icelandic landscape.
Björk had also earlier encountered the work of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen around the age of twelve or thirteen while attending music school in Reykjavík. Years later, Homogenic can be heard as a return to that experimental side of her musical education.
Working closely with Mark Bell of LFO, as well as Howie B and Brazilian arranger Eumir Deodato, Björk blended the organic landscapes, traditions and sounds of Iceland with the experimental electronic music that had fascinated her since adolescence. The result was an album that felt both deeply rooted and radically contemporary.
You'll be given love
You'll be taken care of
You'll be given love
You have to trust it
— Björk
“You have to serve yourself first. The more selfish you are, the more generous you are.”
— Björk
Composition
Following Homogenic, Björk's relationship with composition continued to evolve, with each album exploring a different musical language and a different relationship between electronic production, acoustic instruments, classical influence and the human voice.
Vespertine (2001) Where Homogenic was focused on Icelandic elemental inspiration, Vespertine became microscopic: delicate strings, harps, celesta, music boxes and tiny found sounds were layered with intricately constructed electronic beats. Just like a second-hand shop thrifter, Björk was collecting meaningful things to explore and interpret that would contribute to the finished composition. Now enjoying a domestic foundation, the treasures of interest would be found close to home. Vespertine
Medúlla (2004) Here, Björk stripped right back to the human voice to reveal every nuance and emotion through an avant-garde musical meeting. Bathing in the simplicity of sounds produced within the human flesh, Björk arranged the choir herself, exploring harmony, breath and beatboxing. Oceania
Volta (2007) Volta moved outward again, embracing tribal drums, heavy horns and production by Timbaland. A more physical, exuberant sound, heavy on global rhythms. The classical influence became less about conventional orchestration and more about arranging contrasting, instrumental, all-female-led voices around Björk's electronic compositional structures. Hope
Biophilia (2011) Biophilia took composition into an entirely different territory. Music, science and technology became interconnected, with unusual instruments, custom-made musical systems and complex rhythmic structures forming part of the compositional concept. Björk's fascination with natural phenomena became a framework for exploring how music itself could be constructed.
Like an architect with no boundaries, what could be constructed within the work and create a new, refreshing sound held by the compositions? This would be Björk’s playground and answer. Sacrifice
Vulnicura (2015) Vulnicura revisited strings again, but now as an intensely emotional and psychological language, unpacking a breakup. Björk has described it as her most psychological album, and her role in the arrangements had developed considerably: she worked with the dynamics and scoring herself, continuing the gradual movement toward becoming increasingly self-sufficient as an arranger.
We can reflect that the composer expands in capability through struggle, allowing for more control over selection and nuanced sounds, pieced together and inspired to find again resolution within self through adversity. Mouth Mantra
Utopia (2017) Utopia was an air-themed album, including flutes, breath, birdsong, choir and electronic sound, creating an airy, almost weightless orchestral world. Björk gathered a large ensemble of female flautists in Reykjavík, returning to an instrument she had played growing up and exploring the many colours and textures it could produce. Saint
Fossora
Fossora, released in 2022, dropping deep within the underground and exploring the Earth's activity through fungi and the mycelium network highway. It creates a dense sound built through bass clarinets, clarinets, choirs, low frequencies and heavy electronic beats.
“It’s something that lives underground, but not tree roots. A tree root album would be quite severe and stoic, but mushrooms are psychedelic and they pop up everywhere.”
— Björk
Where to Next?
Björk has confirmed that a new album is coming in 2027 and has spoken about how much she is enjoying being back in the studio. We can only wonder what world this Icelandic producer will be called to explore next, and what she will add to this ever evolving robust canon.
“I was always quite offended by how often Kate Bush was written about like she was insane or a crazy witch – or me being a crazy elf. We are producers. I’ve written all my scores for 20 years, you know. I’m not bragging, I’m just saying that because people still want me to be a naïve elf. If we were guys, we would be taken more seriously.”
