Björk’s ethereal performance with the Hamrahlíð Choir back in 2021 is set to be given a physical release.
The concert was held at the Reykjavík Harpa Concert Hall in October 2021, and saw the iconic Icelandic singer join forces once again with the choir, whom she previously worked with them on ‘Body Memory’ from 2017’s ‘Utopia’.
At the gig, they teamed up to perform an expansive reimagining of Björk’s catalogue, stripping back the visual worlds and delivering the songs in a way not heard before. The setlist mainly focused on the vocal world of 2004’s ‘Medúlla’, and used strings, winds and the choir to convey themes of human voice, nature, technology and new forms of musical collaboration.
Proceeds from the gig went to Kvennaathvarfið, a women’s shelter in Reykjavík; and now, five years on, the audio from the show is set to get a physical release.
‘Björk Orkestral With The Hamrahlíð Choir’ will drop on November 27 on LP, CD, Blu-ray and DVD editions. You can check out a preview of the album already as ‘Where Is The Line (Live at Harpa Hall)’ is out now as a single.
“There is a pattern in my melody that reveals an Icelandic DNA, the snake-like pattern and irregularity me and the bass singers sing in ‘Where Is The Line’ reminds me of some of the wood carvings on bedposts in the national museum here,” Björk said.
“It is quite common in Icelandic folk songs to have irregular time signatures (5/4, 4/4, 3/4 and more, back and forth) but also this song is some strange kinda music-joke to mix together death metal and techno and the choir tradition from my home,” she added.
“The lyric for me is about the absurdity of telling someone else off (‘when you are no angel yourself’) and I guess the strange humour in merging wrong music genres together is supposed to represent that absurdity? Plus the person I’m telling off is a metal kinda person…”
Visit here to pre-order the album.
The announcement follows the singer playing a special DJ set at a rave this summer which coincided with the solar eclipse. That one-day event shared its name with her Echolalia exhibition at the National Gallery of Iceland – a show that presents three large-scale audiovisual installations.
Two of which reimagine ‘Ancestress’ and ‘Sorrowful Soil’ from her 2022 album ‘Fossora‘ – both composed in memory of her late mother – while the third offers a preview of the unreleased track ‘Nerve Bloom’, which is expected to appear on her next album. Few details are known about the record, but it is expected to arrive in 2027.
Earlier this year, Björk joined Rosalía to perform ‘Berghain’ at the 2026 BRIT Awards. She has also shared the concert film from her ‘Cornucopia’ tour, and is contributing music to the forthcoming sci-fi multiplayer game SEED.
In 2022, the singer spoke to NME about her connection with live music, the natural world, and Iceland, and revealed that while she is often travelling and going to new events, she ultimately feels grounded when she returns to her home country.
“I’m not really an urban person,” she said, explaining the balance between her social life and natural settings. “I love visiting cities and going clubbing or seeing a gallery or concert, but then I just want to go home. I’m more of a rural person by nature, so it was just a total blessing for me to be [in Iceland during the pandemic.”
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