Monday, July 19, 2004
Björk Speaks
You have to be a member of Björk.com/unity to read her replies so I am taking the liberty of posting the Q&A here:
Q: "I just got really bored with instruments. I started doing everything with my voice" Do you not see a person's voice as an instrument?
Björk: i absolutely do , especially now after having heard all those incredible noises from people i thought was not possible to make. [2004-07-16]
Q: What roles did Mark Bell and Matmos play on the new album?
Björk: matmos were with me in the beginnig and sort of saw it coming with me being obsessed with spike jones and bodenstandig 2000 , choirs and vocal only stuff . they were very graceful and then drew kept introducing me to more vocal stuff i had never heard . they did create fruit machine noises for "who is it " which i later imitated with my voice . mark bell came later into it he´s funny . i e-mailed him "where is the line " and like a year later he e-mailed me a little idea for it . then when i was mixing in london , i hadn´t been in england for ages then , he would turn up at the studio a lot and ended up rescuing "triumph of the heart" for me . that was the last song and had been the hardest one to get right. he was around when rahzel sang his beat in "where is the line " so he helped us editing it . so overall i did most myself but got like 5 percent a little help from friends. [2004-07-16]
Q: How did you come up with the name Medulla for your album?
Björk: i was having problems with finding a title and the furthest i got was ink . i wanted it to be like the core of us visceral pagan stile , like the blood in us but even deeper and darker . then my friend gabríela came up with medúlla which seemed perfect. [2004-07-16]
Q: Since you decided to limit yourself to voices-only on Medúlla, did you find yourself getting tons and tons of ideas for songs that would have instruments? Is this what makes you want to do two albums in a row?
Björk: not really, it sort of was the other way round. i was trying to write with instruments and didn´t really like it. i was struggling. then when i muted all the instruments the songs starting blossoming for me. [2004-07-18]
Q: Has "Where is the line" experienced some sort of resurrection while making a studio version of it? Did that song have to go though some drastic changes in production to become a suitable chapter in the Medulla character?
Björk: it did actually, i alway knew i wanted to arrange a sort of "brennið þið vitar" ( an icelandic choir piece ) arrangement for it, and after i did and it was recorded over last christmas it started to scream for a vocal only version. we tried very hard very long and when finally rahzel came and sang a beat that we had programmed, gave us some noises we edited into it, it finally fell into place in end of april i think it was and i was so happy when i heard the first playthrough of the only vocal version that i silently cried. it felt great, hard tough work but really really worth it. [2004-07-18]
Q: If you could describe the styles encompassing this album, what would they be?
Björk: primitive and silly. [2004-07-18]
Q: How do YOU pronounce Medúlla? similar to the way you say "abdullah" or "nebula" or...
Björk: i think so?!? [2004-07-18]
I can just hear her little elfin voice answering these questions (so it really sounds like "i tink so"). I believe that she is still accepting questions from fans so there may be more answers from her in the future. I highly suggest that interested readers register at her website and keep an eye out for new responses from fans' questions. I decided to pose a question in the hopes that she might answer. Here is my question:
What inspires you to create music? Do you look up at the clouds and hear a harmony? Do you step in a puddle and hear a melody? Do you bite into an apple and hear beats? Do you look at a tree and hear a song?
I am very excited about the new album and can't wait to hear it. It is due for U.S. release on August 31.
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