Vulnicura Strings (Vulnicura: The Acoustic Version – Strings, Voice and Viola Organista Only)

Vulnicura Strings (Vulnicura: The Acoustic Version – Strings, Voice and Viola Organista Only)
Remix album by Björk
Released	6 November 2015 (2015-11-06)
Genre	Avant-garde classical
Length	63:56
Label	One Little Indian
Producer	Björk
Björk chronology
Vulnicura (2015) Vulnicura Strings (Vulnicura: The Acoustic Version – Strings, Voice and Viola Organista Only) (2015) Vulnicura Live (2015)

Vulnicura Strings (Vulnicura: The Acoustic Version – Strings, Voice and Viola Organista Only), or simply Vulnicura Strings, is an acoustic album released by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk as a companion to her 2015 album, Vulnicura. Vulnicura Strings has been described as a more uncompromising and intimate take on Björk's breakup album, featuring strings-only versions of the Vulnicura tracks, with the omission of "History of Touches".

Background and concept

On 20 January 2015, Björk rush-released Vulnicura, her 8th studio album, after the album leaked online just days after being announced. Vulnicura was a critical success, with praise centering on Björk's strong and intimate lyrics, her powerful string arrangements, and the beats of co-producers Arca and The Haxan Cloak.^[1][2][3]

On 5 October 2015, Vulnicura Strings was officially announced^[4] after some online shops listed the item with few details other than the name. Björk described the genesis of the project on her official Facebook page: "While I was working on Vulnicura, it became one of the most magical thing(s) both musically and spiritually to unite the electronics and the acoustic instruments in an almost romantic way: to prove they can coexist!!... But while working on it I felt somehow for the first time, this was an album that could take another version: a reveal, to simply have the acoustics stand on their own for the folks who wanna indulge even further into the wooden timeless side of this music. With no techno."

She elaborated elsewhere, "For me, strings stand for the nerves of the human bodies. The voice and wind instruments are the lungs. Beats are for dancing and your heart pumping, but when you stroke stringed instruments, it's like your nerves vibrating. It's why we sympathise so easily with strings, I think, especially when you're going through painful stuff. You just want to grab a clip-on mic and get that... 'urrrrrrrrr'. It creates this angsty, almost uncomfortable sound – the sound of really raw emotion."^[5]

For the stripped down versions of the Vulnicura songs, Björk kept the vocal takes of the original studio album but decided to use alternate takes of the acoustic instruments recorded during the original recording sessions, stating, "I dug out the more close up pick up miked versions, other sonic point-of-views...". The album includes additional string arrangements by Una Sveinbjarnardóttir, who was a part of the Icelandic String Octet that joined Björk on stage for her 1998 Homogenic Tour.

In addition, several songs feature the Viola Organista, a unique instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci but built for the first time centuries later by Polish musician Sławomir Zubrzycki. Björk described how the instrument works: "...(it) uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings (similar to a violin), with the strings selected by pressing keys on the keyboard (similar to an organ)." Björk first contacted Zubrzycki by email in 2013^[6] after discovering him on YouTube. She stated, "...like everyone else (I) was just completely blown away. Obviously I wanted to run to Poland, like, NOW, and just record whatever. But I've learned over the years that it's good to not be too impatient." Björk's commitment to her Biophilia Tour, followed immediately by composing and recording duties on Vulnicura, delayed their collaboration until mid-2015, when Björk contacted Zubrzycki again asking him to take part in this new version of Vulnicura.

But they did not meet in person. Björk simply sent him the score. "He's an incredibly talented musician," Björk revealed, "and he has more love for that instrument than the rest of us put together. It was clear that the best thing was just to pass it over to him." Zubrzycki recorded his parts in Krakow, Poland and sent the recordings to London. Days later, Björk sent the musician flowers as a thank you.^[7]

In addition to appearing on the tracks "Atom Dance", "Notget" and "Family", the Viola Organista performs a solo instrumental of "Black Lake", Vulnicura's 10-minute-long centerpiece. Björk described why that song and instrument went well together: "I'm glad I waited until after we'd played the album live to record it. After some time had passed, it became obvious that "Black Lake" in particular was just this weird ghost of a song. It doesn't matter what mood you're in, what concert hall you're in: (performing this song was) always like going back to the Middle Ages. So I thought, OK, this is a little ancient song that would probably have a good relationship with the Viola Organista."

In describing why she returned to writing for strings after years of experimental instruments and orchestrations, she offered, "It was kind of perfect timing - I mean, I'd given strings a 12 year break. When I came back to them, I felt a lot more confident, and arranging and transcribing felt much more natural. It's the first time I've really done all the arrangements myself: coming up with the melodies, but also distributing the parts and printing out the scores." She said doing Medúlla, an all vocal album, helped develop her composing skills, adding, "...I did the choir arrangements totally myself. Maybe it was easier for me, because I know the instrument much better – I've been singing since I was a kid. During Medúlla I sat with the choir working out the music, the harmonies, the Italian – you know, forte, piano, sforzando, that stuff."

Vulnicura Strings was mixed by Chris Elms^[8] and stands as Björk's first companion project to one of her studio albums that wasn't a traditional remix album or a collection of live recordings. It is also her first completely acoustic studio effort. The cover artwork features a live photo by Brooklyn-based photographer Santiago Felipe and a dress by Geoffrey Mac.

Just like the original release of Vulnicura, Vulnicura Strings leaked online in inferior mono sound mere days after being announced. Unlike the original album, however, Vulnicura Strings was not rush-released digitally to head off potential loses in sales. The album was released on 6 November 2015 on CD and digitally, to be followed a month later by the vinyl edition on 4 December, though North America did not see a vinyl release until 8 January 2016.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	80/100[9]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Line of Best Fit	9/10[10]
musicOMH	[11]
Pitchfork Media	6.8/10[12]
Record Collector	[13]

Vulnicura Strings received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 6 reviews.^[9]

Track listing

Though the content of the CD and vinyl versions is the same, the track order is different for each format. The digital release features the "Viola Organista Version" of "Black Lake" as a bonus track while the CD version features it as a hidden track tagged onto the end of the final track, "Family". It is not featured on the vinyl release despite being originally announced as a vinyl exclusive track.

All songs written and composed & produced by Björk, except where stated.

References