VESPERTINE

'''Vespertine''', released in August of 2001, is an album by Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician Björk. This album saw Björk creating an introverted and quiet world of swirling microbeats and dreamy, personal lyrical themes. On the cover she can be seen wearing the swan dress that caused such a stir at the 2001 Academy Awards. It peaked at number eight in the UK Albums Chart, and number 19 in the U.S. Billboard 200. ''Vespertine'' was also nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards. Recently music webzine Drowned In Sound named Vespertine the number-one album of the last six years not to garner press attention.^[1]
The album was originally released both on CD and on DVD-Audio in 5.1-channel advanced resolution.
The album was re-released in 2006 as a DualDisc including a lower-quality DTS 96/24 version of the original advanced resolution 5.1 mix. The DualDisc also formed part of the '' box set.

Contents

Track listing

Album information

Samples

Personnel

Charts

External links

References

Track listing

#"Hidden Place" (Björk, Guy Sigsworth, Mark Bell) – 5:31
#"Cocoon" (Björk, Thomas Knak) – 4:30
#"It's Not Up to You" (Björk) – 5:10
#"Undo" (Björk, Knak) – 5:40
#"Pagan Poetry" (Björk) – 5:16
#"Frosti" (Björk) – 1:43
#"Aurora" (Björk) – 4:39
#"An Echo, A Stain" (Björk, Sigsworth) – 4:06
#"Sun in My Mouth" (Björk, Sigsworth, E. E. Cummings) – 2:42
#"Heirloom" (Björk, Console) – 5:14
#"Harm of Will" (Björk, Sigsworth, Harmony Korine) – 4:38
#"Unison" (Björk) – 6:47
#"Generous Palmstroke" (Björk, Zeena Parkins) (Japanese bonus track) – 4:24

Album information

Matmos utlizes an array of interesting sampled objects to create beats and soundscapes in a number of songs on ''Vespertine'', including shuffling cards on "Cocoon" and "Hidden Place"; snow being walked upon on "Frosti" and ice being cracked/smashed on "Aurora", used to create drum beats.
"Hidden Place", "Pagan Poetry" and "Cocoon" were released as singles from the album. A rumoured fourth, "It's Not Up to You", never made it to release, pending the birth of Björk's daughter Isadora.
''Harm of Will'' is about and named after Will Oldham. It was not released as a single.
''Vespertine'' is Björk's longest album.
The last track on the album, ''Unison'', uses a sample of St Paul's Cathedral Choir singing a segment of Patrick Gowers' ''Viri Galilaei'' that was recorded back in 1994. A court case against Björk was instigated by Gowers who claimed writing credits for ''Unison''. No results are known.
The first name for the album was "Domestica". A title-song was recorded, but with the change of the name, the song became a B-side of the "Pagan Poetry" song single.

Samples

Personnel

★ Björk - producer, programming, beat programming, basslines, string arrangements, choir arrangements, harp arrangements, music box arrangements, vocal editing

★ Valgeir Sigurdsson - programming, beat programming, ProTools, engineer

★ Martin Console - producer, programming

★ Jake Davies - programming, ProTools, engineer

★ Matthew Herbert - programming

★ Leigh Jamieson - ProTools

★ Thomas Knak - production, programming

★ Jan "Stan" Kybert - ProTools

★ Matmos - programming, beat programming

★ Vince Mendoza - string arrangements, choir arrangements, orchestration

★ Zeena Parkins - harp, harp arrangements

★ Jack Perron - adaptation to music box

★ Guy Sigsworth - programming, beat programming, celeste, celeste arrangements, clavichord, clavichord arrangements, choir arrangements

★ Mark "Spike" Stent - mixing

★ Damian Taylor - programming, beat programming, ProTools

★ Caryl Thomas - harp

★ Marius de Vries: producer, programming, beat programming

★ M/M (Paris) - art direction, design and illustration

★ Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin - photography

★ Patrick Gowers - Composer of Vocal and Organ Arrangements on ''Unison''

★ St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, conducted by John Scott - Choir on ''Unison''

Charts

Country	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Austria	5
Canada	2	Gold	50,000+
Finland	3
France	1	Platinum	222,000+
Italy	2
New Zealand	32
Poland	6
Sweden	7	Gold	30,000+
Switzerland	3
U.K.	8	Silver	60,000+
United States	19		404,000+

External links

★ Vespertine mini-site

References

1. http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/1254995