Icelandic music icon Björk has announced her podcast debut. Dubbed Björk: Sonic Symbolism, the new series will see the famed musician taking a retrospective deep-dive into her back catalogue. The first three episodes of the podcast – focusing on her initial trio of albums, Debut, Post, and Homogenic – will arrive on Thursday, 1st September.
Each episode of Sonic Symbolism will look at a single album from Björk’s extensive career, discussing her creative process and welcoming guests such as philosopher and writer Oddný Eir and musicologist Ásmundur Jónsson for conversations around the inspiration and emotions that fed into each album’s creation.
Listen to the trailer for Björk: Sonic Symbolism
“When I get asked about the differences of the music of my albums, I find it quickest to use visual short cuts,” Björk said in a statement. “That’s kind of why my album covers are almost like homemade tarot cards. The image on the front might seem like just a visual moment, but for me it is simply describing the sound of it. I try to express it with the colour palette, the textures of the textiles, with what I am holding, the posture I am in, and the angle of it shows its relationship to the world.”
Björk continued, “Also, the emotion of the mouth tries to share the overall mood of the album. Perhaps you can call it some sort of a sonic symbolism? Most of us go through phases in our lives that take roughly three years, and it is not a coincidence this is also how long it takes to make an album or a film.
“This podcast is an experiment to capture which moods, timbres, and tempos were vibrating during each of these phases.”
News of the podcast was first teased last week, alongside news that Björk would be releasing her new album, Fossora, some time in the coming months. The musician also announced a new single, ‘Atopos’, though the release date for it and the forthcoming album are unknown.
Further Reading
Love Letter To A Record: Methyl Ethel On Björk’s ‘Vespertine’
