In describing her upcoming 10th album Fossora, out in fall 2022, Björk likened it to walking into a semi-warped, techno-induced dream. “Let’s see what it’s like when you walk into this fantasy and, you know, have a lunch and farrrrt,” said Björk in a recent interview, “and do normal things, like meet your friends.”
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Following her 2017 release Utopia, Fossora, the feminine, Latin word for “digger,” features more grounded writing upon returning home to Iceland. It’s there she remained during the pandemic while writing the album and meditating on the past several years of major life transitions—her divorce, daughter Doa (Ísadóra) away at school, and the death of her mother, environmental activist Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir in 2018.
The album features two songs “Sorrowful Soil” and “Ancestress,” written for her mother, a song with Serpentwithfeet, and a poem by the 18th-century drifter and fisherwoman Látra-Björg, along with backing vocals from her son, Sindri, and daughter, Doa, who also appeared with her mother in the 2022 Viking drama The Northman. Doa sings on the folkier Fossara track “Her Mother’s House.”
“I asked her to write about saying goodbye to the nest and [said] she didn’t have to just be nice,” joked Björk of the song. “It’s me making fun of myself for being a bit clingy.”
Additional contributions include the Indonesian dance duo Gabber Modus Operandi, who helped Björk with the Fossora sound they coined “biological techno.”
Björk is currently set to premiere a podcast series covering her catalog of music in late 2022.
Photo: Santiago Felipe / One Little Independent Records
