Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.12.2017, Page 23

23The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 21 — 2017
environment made from the softest of sounds. Fluttering
wings and guttural bird song bursts gently into the beats,
giving the tracks a lingering oneiric feel. Gusts of melody
breathe freshness into the lyrics. “You feel like there’s wind
blowing over you,” Björk explains. “It’s to clear the air after
the drama of ‘Vulnicura.’ To breathe.”
Attainable dreams
A city in the clouds, however, isn’t the only thing Björk envi-
sioned for this album; she sees her utopia, in keeping with
literary tradition, as an island. Björk’s nova insula might
bear some sci-fi characteristics, but it’s paradoxically
more realistic than the one Thomas More envisioned cen-
turies ago. It isn’t a place where things automatically get
better. Instead, it’s meant to describe a new way of think-
ing—a recipe, as Björk calls it, to live by.
I had my reservations about the concept, at first. The
way ‘Utopia’ was described in the months before its release
sounded like an unattainable dream. Not only that—it felt
irresponsible. A bunch of women break free of their chains
and go off to a new place, leaving the world behind? That’s
not change for the better, but escapism. And in real life,
there is no escaping.
No paradise
As it turns out, Björk’s concept of utopia is as far from this
as can be. Her version of utopia isn’t about escaping a bad
situation by shutting the door on it. She takes her time
to mull over her words, making sure that she cannot be
misunderstood. “If it were just happy songs, I would have
called the album ‘Paradise’ or something,” she chuckles.
“Yes, there are moments that are very euphoric and happy,
but then there is also—like in all sci-fi films and stories that
humans have made about the perfect place—that moment
when two thirds into the story, the tail of a dinosaur knocks
on your door and you have to deal with it.”
That tail has a very familiar, ominous sound to it. It can
be the pain of heartbreak, but also sorrows such as war,
or illness. Dealing with bad situations, and understanding
loss, is a part of the human condition, and a crucial part of
moving on. And moving on doesn’t mean forgetting; if you
wipe out your past, how can you ever learn and heal?
“When you go through heartbreak—or any loss—you’re
full of self-pity,” Björk explains. “You think you’re the only
one who’s ever experienced it, and then once you get over
it you realise that everybody has lost something. In a way,
this is me getting over my self-pity and getting on with life.”
The track “Losss,” in particular, is all about looking at
pain in hindsight before you’re ready to move forward. But
the album isn’t merely a passive reflection of things; rather,
it’s about agency, and seeks to spur active steps forward.
“I think I’ve never been as honest and naked about the fact
that it was difficult for me to get over heartbreak,” Björk
says, slowly. “I had to use will, and be intentional about the
light. It’s not going to happen by itself. You have to decide
that you’re going to get over it.”
Save yourselves
But this call to arms isn’t relegated only to the personal.
Instead, it branches out to the social aspects of life such
as politics and environmental care. In an uncannily Shake-
spearean way, ‘Utopia’ encourages deeper relations be-
tween individuals as part of a community, as well as being
themselves. If Björk is Shakespeare’s Prospero, we are her
audience, and while she seeks no redemption, her spiritual
call to us is no less important.
Björk’s expressed her sadness about Donald Trump’s re-
treat from the Paris Agreement on social media, where her
post was widely shared, but her approach to our current
social and political situation remains optimistic. “I think
change is possible,” she affirms, decidedly. “But I think it’s
become obvious that the governments are not going to
save us and change our cities. We‘re going to have to do
it from the ground up, and the sooner the better. It might
seem utopian now, but we can totally do it.”
She cites the urban changes in London, where the air
pollution from
the factories w
as once so intrusive that it
blocked out the sky; or those in Paris, w
hen the city dis-
m
antled their underground foundations to install a sew
-
age system
. When authorities realised that system
atic
changes could im
prove life for everyone, they decided the
long-term
benefits outw
eighed the costs; their utopian
view
gave them
a plan, and they stuck to it.

Now
that w
e are in the m
idst of an environm
ental crisis,
Björk says it’s tim
e for us to find our ow
n utopian recipe
for change. “We’ve got to go green, and w
e’ve got to be in-
tentional about it,” she says, gravely. “It’s so far out that it’s
hard to even im
agine right now. Im
agining Iceland w
ith no
oil—
it’s like a sci-fi novel. But w
e have to do it. We don’t have
a choice.”
A gam
e of blam
e
According to Björk, change is already occurring at a social
level. One exam
ple is how
w
e deal, both personally and soci-
etally, w
ith sexual assault—
although there’s still resistance
from
those w
ho feel threatened by changes to the status
quo. Even those w
ho advocate for change seem
to repeat
the sam
e m
istakes. For exam
ple, in the US, Hillary Clinton’s
presidential cam
paign w
as largely anti-Trum
p, rather than
offering a concrete alternative. Here in Iceland, the elec-
torate feels increasingly left out as the Left Green Party,
w
hich w
as supposed to bear the torch of change, just re-
cently ended up joining the right-w
ing Independence Party
in governm
ent.

Despite being largely apolitical, Björk has strong opin-
ions, and insists that the problem
isn’t solely about the
rise of right w
ing populism
. “We w
ere pointing our fingers
at the right, saying that all the m
isogyny and corruption
w
as there,” she says. “And that‘s true—
but it‘s also in the
left, and that needs to be addressed and revolutionised,
We need to not just go by som
ething that w
orked in the
1960s. The reason w
hy w
e haven’t been able to form
a left-
w
ing governm
ent in last tw
o elections isn’t just a problem

of the right. It’s apparent that the left has just as m
uch of
an infrastructural problem
as the right. I think they need to
renew
the idea of w
hat it is to be a socialist.”
The real ideal
Throughout our tim
e together, it strikes m
e how
there’s
never anything cheesy or oversim
plified in w
hat Björk says.
Her thoughts are hard to keep track of, but they bear the
w
isdom
of a w
om
an w
ho has lived. She’s intentional w
ith
her w
ords, and even m
ore so w
ith her m
usic. Nothing is
left to chance—
but at the sam
e tim
e, she leaves enough
space for hum
our and self-deprecation to com
e through.
After all, one has to have fun, too. What she does is purely
herself—
nothing m
ore, and nothing less.

We end on a contagiously optim
istic note. Björk w
ants to
m
ake it clear that w
hile system
atic change needs to com
e
from
politics, w
e can all m
ake conscious choices w
hen
it com
es to social change. And if it sounds grim
to hear
that solar and w
ind energies m
ight soon be em
braced by
right w
ing governm
ents because of their pecuniary ben-
efits rather than their environm
ental im
pact, at least it’s a
change for the better.

“When I talk about utopia, it’s not just som
e pipedream
,”
Björk finishes. “It’s m
ore about the hum
an need to try and
rew
rite the recipe. And then it’s not only about defining
w
hat you w
ant, but also m
aking it com
e true. Because even
if only half of it com
es true, you’re good.”
Sc
al
e
an
d
te
xt
ur
e
Th
ro
ug
ho
ut
h
er
c
ar
ee
r,
Bj
ör
k
ha
s
al
w
ay
s
be
en
d
es
cr
ib
ed

as
a
n
ex
pe
rim
en
ta
l a
rt
is
t.
In
t
he
p
as
t
de
ca
de
, t
he
w
or
d
“e
xp
er
im
en
ta
l”
ha
s
co
m
e
to
b
e
af
fil
ia
te
d
w
ith
a
ll
so
rt
s
of

ar
tis
tic
e
nd
ea
vo
ur
s
th
at
a
re
o
ut
o
f
th
e
or
di
na
ry
, b
iza
rr
e,
an
d
of
te
nt
im
es
e
ve
n
rid
ic
ul
ou
s.
In
B
jö
rk
’s
ca
se
, h
ow
ev
er
, it

w
ou
ld
b
e
in
ac
cu
ra
te
to
s
ay
th
at
it
’s
he
r w
or
k
al
on
e
th
at
’s
ex
pe
rim
en
ta
l. B
jö
rk
h
er
se
lf
is
th
e
ep
on
ym
o
f e
xp
er
im
en
ta
-
tio
n,
w
ith
a
n
ar
ra
y
of
a
lb
um
s
th
at
b
ra
ve
ly
ch
ar
t t
he
u
ne
x-
pl
or
ed
a
re
as
o
f h
er
o
w
n
cr
ea
tiv
ity
, o
ft
en
u
si
ng
n
ew
te
ch
-
no
lo
gi
es
to
d
o
so
.

If
ot
he
rs
u
su
al
ly
de
sc
rib
e
an
d
de
fin
e
he
r e
xp
er
im
en
ta
l-
is
m
b
y
its
s
ou
nd
a
nd
te
xt
ur
e,
Bj
ör
k
of
te
n
us
es
s
ca
le
. A
ft
er

th
e
m
ac
ho
w
ar
rio
r-
lik
e
an
gl
e
of
‘H
om
og
en
ic
’ c
am
e
th
e
cr
o-
ch
et
ed
m
ic
ro
-p
er
sp
ec
tiv
e
of
‘V
es
pe
rt
in
e,’
fo
llo
w
ed
b
y
th
e
co
sm
ic
s
w
ee
p
of
‘B
io
ph
ilia
.’ B
ut
if
c
rit
ic
s
ex
pe
ct
ed
‘U
to
pi
a’
to
b
e
a s
oc
ia
l c
om
m
en
ta
ry
o
r a
re
ac
tio
na
ry
re
sp
on
se
to
o
ur

ze
itg
ei
st
, f
or
B
jö
rk
t
he
c
on
ne
ct
io
ns
w
ith
c
ur
re
nt
e
ve
nt
s,
su
ch
a
s
Do
na
ld
Tr
um
p’
s
w
ith
dr
aw
al
fr
om
th
e
Pa
ris
A
gr
ee
-
m
en
t,
ca
m
e
on
ly
in
h
in
ds
ig
ht
.

“It
w
as
s
tr
an
ge
to
h
av
e
th
at
h
ap
pe
n
w
hi
le
I
w
as
d
oi
ng

th
is
a
lb
um
, b
ec
au
se
it
’s
ba
se
d
m
or
e
on
m
y
pe
rs
on
al
li
fe
,”
sh
e
ex
pl
ai
ns
. “
To
s
ee
it
a
ls
o
ha
pp
en
in
g
al
so
in
th
e
bi
gg
er

sc
he
m
e
of
th
in
gs
…
I w
as
h
ea
rt
br
ok
en
.”
A
ci
ty
in
th
e
cl
ou
ds
‘U
to
pi
a’
is
f
ar
f
ro
m
t
he
a
va
nt
-p
op
m
us
ic
o
f
Bj
ör
k’s
e
ar
ly
ca
re
er
, a
nd
w
hi
le
e
le
ct
ro
ni
c
be
at
s
fo
rm
a
la
rg
e
pa
rt
o
f i
ts

co
re
, it
al
so
e
xi
st
s o
n
an
o
rc
he
st
ra
l s
ca
le
lik
e
no
th
in
g
th
at
’s
co
m
e
be
fo
re
. O
n
‘Vu
ln
ic
ur
a’
sh
e
ch
os
e
to
u
se
st
rin
gs
, a
s s
he

ex
pl
ai
ns
, “
Be
ca
us
e
it’
s
ea
sy
to
m
ak
e
th
em
s
ou
nd
ve
ry
s
ad
.”
Ho
w
ev
er
, f
lu
te
s
do
m
in
at
e
‘U
to
pi
a,’
m
ak
in
g
as
a
iry
a
n
al
bu
m

as
yo
u
ca
n
ge
t.

“‘V
ul
ni
cu
ra
’ w
as
v
er
y
he
av
y,
an
d
th
e
m
el
od
ie
s
w
er
e
sa
d,

so
th
ey
d
id
n’
t m
ov
e
a
lo
t o
f t
he
g
ro
un
d.
O
n
‘U
to
pi
a’
I k
in
d
of
g
ra
vit
at
ed
to
w
ar
ds
e
ve
ry
th
in
g
th
at
w
as
lig
ht
a
nd
h
ap
py
,
be
ca
us
e
I h
ad
o
ve
rd
os
ed
o
n
se
rio
us
ne
ss
,”
Bj
ör
k
ex
pl
ai
ns

w
ith
a
la
ug
h.
“F
lu
te
s
ar
e
pr
ob
ab
ly
th
e
lig
ht
es
t m
us
ic
al
in
-
st
ru
m
en
ts
. T
he
y a
re
fl
uf
fy
—
th
ey
‘re
w
in
d,
a
nd
fl
ow
.”

Th
e
al
bu
m
’s
so
un
ds
ca
pe
is
o
f t
he
k
in
d,
s
he
in
si
st
s,
th
at

w
ou
ld
p
er
m
ea
te
th
e a
ir
in
a
ci
ty
in
th
e c
lo
ud
s.
In
de
ed
, s
on
gs

lik
e
th
e
tit
le
tr
ac
k,
“S
ai
nt
,” a
s
w
el
l a
s
“P
ar
ad
is
ia
,” e
xi
st
in
a
n
it’s more about the human need
to try to rewrite the recipe.
It’s not only
about defining
what you want,
but also making
it come true.”