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For someone who makes pop music, Bjork can be a remarkably difficult artist to listen to.
Listening to her music can sometimes feel like a feat of endurance.
Stupefying mini symphonies is correct, but it makes listening to her sound like homework.
Also, Bjork doesnt think of herself that way.
Fossora, her newest project, does not sound like most pop music of recent years.
Its a big ask, but Bjorks archive is the kind that warrants that kind of work.
When I learned to love her work, the biggest factor in the change was a mind-set shift.
Second, I stopped feeling for a structure that wasnt there and simply lived inside what Bjork was creating.
Luckily, Bjork has built a perfect metaphor for beginning your Bjork-ening intoFossora.
The first track on the album the entry if you will is titled Atopos.
So instead, dont look for a groove, just accept that the music is without easy footholds.
One thing Bjork always has that is designed to help you enter her world more easily is stupendous visuals.
The lead single forFossorawas Atopos, another way in which it functions as the entry point into this era.
For a song that uses silence so intentionally, the video can be a sensory overload.
Atopos is a song about connection and about breaking down the barriers that would preclude it.
Commit to something small
From here, its worth your time to determine your own path.
One song run that might be of interest is the maternal duo Sorrowful Soil and Ancestress.
Both are dedications to Bjorks mother Hildur Runa Hauksdottir, who died in 2018.
Ancestress was written after her mothers death and is written in an epitaph in an Icelandic folk style.
If youre lost in Bjorks sonics, serpentwithfeet might be your audience surrogate.
Nowdig into the album
With a Bjork album, its helpful to walk in with signposts.
Now, after youve developed some things to look forward to, dig in.
WithFossora, youll find themes of feminine reclamation, connection, and love.
Instead, shes making her audience recalibrate their listening habits.
