Björk has continued the lead-up to her new album, Fossora, sharing new single ‘Ancestress’ overnight. The track is one of two songs on her forthcoming tenth album said to be a tribute to her mother, who passed away in 2018.
Continuing the more organic sound that was explored with recent single ‘Atopos’, with her son, Sindri Eldon, helping to provide the arrangement of the vocals alongside his mother. Taking to social media alongside its release, Björk explained that the track had been written “just after her wordly funeral”.
Björk – ‘Ancestress’
“This song is a letter to my mother, her story seen from my point of view,” she explained. “It is written in chronological order, the first verse is my childhood and so on.
“Only recently did I discover that this song is probably somehow inspired by an Icelandic song ‘Grafskrift’, which is somehow a very direct and patriarchial account of someones life,” she added. “I probably wanted to approach this in a more feminine way – her biological and emotional story, not her professions, partners or dates of birth and death.”
The video is also paired with a video directed by Andrew Thomas Huang, which Björk describes as something of a more ideal way in which a person’s life should be honoured. “For 20 years I have not been able to attend funerals as something in them rubbed me the wrong way,” she continued on social media.
“Possibly a big part of it is after having lived a life of thousand concerts, I probably have too strong ideas on how a ritual should be, what kinda sound, musical structure, words and it took me all this time to discover that for me all funerals should be outside.
“Probably what was offending me most was how can one set off the spirit in such a claustrophobic environment as a church? When the soul sets off, it needs to be outside so there is room for how enormous it becomes when it merges with the elements.”
Fossora is set for release on Friday, 30th September.
Björk – Fossora
- Atopos (feat. Kasimyn)
- Ovule
- Mycelia
- Sorrowful Soil
- Ancestress (feat. Sindri Eldon)
- Fagurt Er í Fjörðum
- Victimhood
- Allow (feat. Emilie Nicolas)
- Fungal City (feat. serpentwithfeet)
- Trölla-Gabba (feat. Kasimyn)
- Freefall
- Fossora (feat. Kasimyn)
- Her Mother’s House (feat. Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney)
Further Reading
Love Letter To A Record: Methyl Ethel On Björk’s ‘Vespertine’
Björk Co-Starring In Upcoming Viking Epic ‘The Northman’
Watch Björk DJ At Her Old High School’s School Dance
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