Björk – Utopia
2017 · Directed by Warren Du Preez & Nick Thornton Jones
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Best comments
1.“I am so glad computer-generated graphics became advanced enough to handle recreating what goes on in Björk's mind.”
More comments
- 2.“This is exactly how I picture the process of digestion.”
- 3.“Björk songs are like the long intros to some sick metal songs... but they forgot to record the metal part.”
The story
Björk wakes up in a pink forest surrounded by her family of flute players. Bird-like creatures glide overhead, the flutists sway like nymphs at a picnic, and she wears the silicone face prosthetics from the album cover, plus an orchid on her chest. She called it a moving cover. At the very end the camera pulls back and the whole pastoral scene turns out to be an island floating in a pink sky.
Directors Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones shot it in Iceland with Björk handling creative direction, and longtime collaborator James Merry made the prosthetics, braid jewellery and even the flutes. The effects work was done at Analog. Eleven flutists are credited by name.
Utopia is the title track of her tenth album, co-produced with Arca, and the flutes aren't just set dressing. Björk built a 12-piece Icelandic flute section and recorded with it for months, then laced the album with birdsong, some of it her own field recordings. Most people's idea of paradise has a beach. Hers has woodwinds.
