Bjork has been pretty busy as of late. Already in 2015 she has announced a tour, joined the list of artists pulling their work off of streaming site spotify , announced a new album that unfortunately was leaked early, and she made a short film “Black Lake” for MoMA. Today she released a moving album cover for her song “Family” off of the album Vulnicura.
Bjork is an Icelandic singer-songwriter that has been in the spotlight since she was about twelve years old. Over the span of her nearly forty- year career she has been charted in both the United States and in the UK. She currently resides in Brooklyn where she continues to drum up content for her fans to take in and interpret to their liking. The aforementioned statement is exactly what the singer provided for her latest visual “Family”.
The visual is a mind warping journey. The visual begins in a dark place, and what appears to be a brain, or some sort of insect, or woman is being circled by the camera. The intensity of the song progresses as the dark phase of this visual reveals in time that the object is in fact a mixture of all three. When the darkness is lifted from the visual Bjork is seen bridging a rock (and/or brain) and a pink matter comes oozing from the rock. Her body becomes a flower and in the center of her chest is an open wound. Some people would argue that she is the human embodiment of the female reproduction system. With that being said, there is a maternal nature to the visual. Towards the end of the visual she finally sews up the open wound in the middle of her chest, and pulls the strings shut. There are pearls in the center of the newly closed wound. Bjork then becomes encased in a flower bulb, to be released back in her normal human state.
The visual took my mind some time to fully interpret it, but the description above isn’t nearly as detailed and colorful as the visual. Bjork recently had her work published in the MoMA. She has delivered a visual that is unmatched. She takes a concept and makes the darkest regions of her mind illuminated. “Family” is the second in a series of visuals from Vulnicura two days ago she released a visual for “Lionsong” in which the flower motif is continued. Bjork is on a roll and the visuals backing the album are amazing. Rarely do musicians show so much artistic vision. This month Bjork is doing a run of shows in New York, and she has sold out all seven. That serves as a testament to her long-standing legacy as a musician, and her ability to progress and stay relevant. Watch the puzzling visual for “Family” above.