björk utopia
courtship arisen my senses blissing me
losss sue me
the gate utopia
body memory
tabula rasa
features
claimstaker
creatures
paradisia saint
future forever
arisen my senses
blissing me
lyrics by björk written by björk and arca produced by björk and arca
lyrics by björk written by björk produced by björk and arca
just that kiss was all there is every cell in my body lined up to you legs a little open once again awaken my senses head topless arisen my senses just that kiss was all there is my palms pulsating of the things i want to do to you just that kiss is all there is weaving a mixtape with every crossfade on www to him a he weaving a mixtape arisen my senses with every song
awaken my senses just that kiss was all there is just that kiss was all there is just that kiss arisen my senses was all there is for him a he once again i’m made to merge to him a he am i keen or not keen to be seen or not seen with him a he am i keen or not keen to be seen or not seen with him a he but he sees me for what who i am
all of my mouth was kissing him now into the air i am missing him is this excess texting a blessing or just two music nerds obsessing he reminds me of the love in me i’m celebrating on a vibrancy sending each other mp3s falling in love to a song this handsommest of wickermen he asked if i could wait for him now how many lightyears this interim while falling in love with his songs his hands are good in protecting me touching and caressing me but would it be trespassing wanting him to be blissing me robbing him of his youth
cliffhanger like suspension my longing has formed its own skeleton bridging the gap between singletons sending each other these songs the interior of these melodies is perhaps where we are meant to be our physical union a fantasy i just fell in love with so i reserve my intimacies i bundle them up in packages my rawward longing far too visceral did i just fall in love with love?
the gate
utopia
body memory
lyrics by björk written by björk and arca produced by arca and björk
lyrics by björk written by björk produced by björk and arca
lyrics by björk written by björk produced by björk and arca
my healed chestwound transformed into a gate where i receive love from where i give love from and i
you assigned me to protect our lantern to be intentional about the light
care for you i care for you split into many parts splattered light beams into prisms that will reunite if you care for me and then i’ll care for you didn’t used to be so needy just more broken than normal proud self sufficiency my silhouette is oval it is a gate i can care for you from i care for you you care for me
first snow of winter my sexual dna i’m walking hills and valleys x-rays of my kamasutras adore this mystical fog! this fucking mist! summons different bodies utopia these cliffs are just showing off! compares spines and buttocks then the body memory kicks in and back of necks it’s not elsewhere i mime my home mountains and my body memory kicks in the moss that i’m made of simply takes over, beastiality bird species never seen or heard before i redeem myself i redeem my body the first flute from the first fauna i’ve been wrestling with my fate i wasn’t born urban utopia is not elsewhere do i accept this ending? toxic doesn’t agree with me will i accept my death love lured me there into a stagnant state it’s here or struggle claustrophobic? my myths my customs ridiculed fought like a wolverine vacuum packed molecules my instinct has been shouting at me for with my destiny then my body memory kicks in years refused to accept what was meant to be on this brooklyn dance floor saying let’s get out of here then the body memory kicks in sweating with these rhythms toxic tumour bulging under the earth and trust the unknown rotate this matrix here unfathomable imagination need to purify the air here surrender to future all trapped in legal harness kafkaesque oh how to capture all this love farce like patriarchy and find a pathway for it avoided to confront it like threading an ocean through a needle then the body memory kicks in river through a keyhole my warrior awakens i can’t fathom the grasp my turn to defend i can’t grasp the fathom urban didn’t tame me then the body memory kicks in my limbs and tongue take over then the body memory kicks in like the ancestors before me all bosoms and embraces show me the flow oral anal entrances enjoy the satisfaction of the other is growing
features creatures
courtship
losss
lyrics by björk written by björk and sarah hopkins produced by björk
lyrics by björk written by björk produced by björk and arca
lyrics by björk written by björk produced by björk, rabit and arca
when i spot someone who is same height as you and goes to same record stores i literally think i am minutes away from love
he turned me down i then downturned another who then downturned her the paralyzing juice of rejection his veins full of lead he’s left with loving what he lost more than what he has
we all are struggling just doing our best gone through the grinder suffered loss
when i hear someone with same accent as yours asking directions with the same beard as yours i literally think i am minutes away from love isn’t it odd isn’t it peculiar these statistics of my mind shuffling your features assembling a man googling love warming my heart on this log fire of love features creatures features creatures features creatures
my snakeskin cold in the dark but warms up in the light i then upturned a green eyed giant who upturned and entered me will we stop seeing what unites us but only what differs? the ghosts of old loves hovering around his orifices... as you narrate your own hearttale you thread souls into one beam the love you gave and have been given weave into your dream i trust my cells to rearchive my love historic stream
loss to which everything flows an absence which attracts floral blooming softly soft is my chest didn’t allow loss loss make me hate or harden from pain this pain we have will always be there but the sense of full satisfaction too i opened my heart to you your lower lip so heavy on you my spine curved erotically finally vulnerable loss of love we all have suffered how we make up for it defines who we are
it defines us how we overcome it recover repair from loss loss of faith ignites survivors they stare doubt straight into the eye i forgive the past is bondage freedom aphrodisiac i opened my heart for you tied ribbons on my ankles for you drew orchids on my thighs for you your lower lip so heavy on you my spine curved erotically finally vulnerable
sue me
tabula rasa
lyrics by björk written by björk and arca produced by björk and arca
lyrics by björk written by björk produced by björk and arca
my tearduct clogged my left eye broken medicate with warm compress extract hardened tears
he took it from his father who took it from his father who took it from his father let’s break this curse so it won’t fall on our daughter and her daughter and her daughter won’t let this sink into her dna
we are all swollen from hiding his affairs let’s put it all on the table let it all out it is time he mustn’t steal our light
sue me sue me sue me sue me sue me all you want i won’t denounce her srcin clean plate: sue me sue me sue me sue me sue me tabula rasa for my children all you want sue me sue me sue me sue all you want clean plate: i won’t denounce our srcin i won’t let you denounce our srcin not repeating the fuckups of the fathers sue me i’ve ducked and dived i won’t let you denounce our srcin my deepest wish like the mother in salomon’s tale no i won’t is that you’re immersed in grace to spare our girl and dignity i won’t let her get cut in hal f ever just cant take her suffer you will have to deal with shit but it’s time to teach her some dignity so unfair — the sins of the fathers soon enough they just fucked it all up i hoped to give you sue me sue me sue me sue me sue me we had the best family the least amount of luggage all you want we had it all you got the right i won’t denounce our srcin we had it all in our hands to make your own fresh mistakes sue me sue me sue me sue me sue me he pulled us through the wringer not repeat other’s failures i won’t denounce our srcin narcissistic no i won’t
clean plate: tabula rasa for my children let’s clean up: break the chain of the fuckup of the fathers it is time: for us women to rise and not just take it lying down it is time: the world is listening oh how i love you embarrassed to pass this mess over to you but he led two lives thought ours was the only one you are strong you are strong you are strong you are strong you are strong
claimstaker
paradisia
saint
future forever
lyrics by björk written by björk and arca produced by arca and björk
written by björk produced by björk
lyrics by björk written by björk produced by björk and arca
lyrics by björk written by björk and arca produced by arca and björk
she always knows when people need stroking and is attracted to deathbeds and divorces i dreamt she cared for my dying grandfather lying naked face down on his bed she insists on total presence and knows how to get through to the rest of us she has entered me thousandfold often and undone knots at my most awkward
imagine a future and be in it feel this incredible nurture soak it in the past is on loop turn it off see this possible future and be in it
i walk through this land stake a claim with my sense with my bark mark my nest with song hear the echo from that cliff i draw laser lines through lake to take physicality inhale i inhale this physicality this forest is in me this forest is in me
hold fort for love forever we’re just momentary vessels we’re just carrying trust your head around guide your stare elsewhere your love is already waiting your already in it
music loves too i immerse me this is my home
hold fort for love forever she reaches out to orphans and refugees embraces them with thermal blankets her favorite childhood moments were at a hospital for the disabled i’ve seen her offer empathy to widows she attends funerals of strangers her strongest memory is feeding children with leprosy music heals too i’m here to defend it
watch me form new nests weave a matriarchal dome build a musical scaffolding between sleep and awake day and night between night and day you say i mirror peoples missions at them now you mirror at me who i used to be what i gave to the world you’re giving back at me hold fort for love forever
claimstaker
paradisia
saint
future forever
lyrics by björk written by björk and arca produced by arca and björk
written by björk produced by björk
lyrics by björk written by björk produced by björk and arca
lyrics by björk written by björk and arca produced by arca and björk
she always knows when people need stroking and is attracted to deathbeds and divorces i dreamt she cared for my dying grandfather lying naked face down on his bed she insists on total presence and knows how to get through to the rest of us she has entered me thousandfold often and undone knots at my most awkward
imagine a future and be in it feel this incredible nurture soak it in the past is on loop turn it off see this possible future and be in it
i walk through this land stake a claim with my sense with my bark mark my nest with song hear the echo from that cliff i draw laser lines through lake to take physicality inhale i inhale this physicality this forest is in me this forest is in me
hold fort for love forever we’re just momentary vessels we’re just carrying trust your head around guide your stare elsewhere your love is already waiting your already in it
music loves too i immerse me this is my home
hold fort for love forever she reaches out to orphans and refugees embraces them with thermal blankets her favorite childhood moments were at a hospital for the disabled i’ve seen her offer empathy to widows she attends funerals of strangers her strongest memory is feeding children with leprosy music heals too i’m here to defend it
watch me form new nests weave a matriarchal dome build a musical scaffolding between sleep and awake day and night between night and day you say i mirror peoples missions at them now you mirror at me who i used to be what i gave to the world you’re giving back at me hold fort for love forever
björk vocals and digital flute, flute, vocal, choir and cello arrangements, structural protools song editing and programming arca electronics, synth melodies and beats flute players melkorka ólafsdóttir áshildur haraldsdóttir berglind maría tómasdóttir steinunn vala pálsdóttir björg brjánsdóttir þuríður jónsdóttir pamela de sensi sigríður hjördís indriðadóttir emilía rós sigfúsdóttir dagný marinósdóttir sólveig magnúsdóttir berglind stefánsdóttir hafdís vigfúsdóttir flute solos by melkorka ólafsdóttir berglind maría tómasdóttir áshildur haraldsdóttir harp katie buckley choir hamrahlíðarkórinn conducted by
music conceived by bjork and arca blissing me, body memory, features creatures, courtship, losss, claimstaker mixed by heba kadry arisen my senses, the gate, utopia, sue me, tabula rasa, paradisia, future forever, saint mixed by marta salogni vocal mixes in blissing me and chorus of losss by marta salogni engineers bergur þórisson bart migal, chris elms flute, choir and harp recording engineer bergur þórisson harp recording engineer chris elms mastering mandy parnell björk management
þorgerður ingólfsdóttir cello júlía mogensen
derek birkett emma birkett
contra bass hávarður tryggvason
assistant and visual co-creative director james merry
the fifth ear robin carolan
published by kobalt music publishing ltd, except arisen my senses, the gate, sueme, claimstaker, future forever: kobalt music publishing ltd/ emi april music inc (ascap); features creatures: kobalt music publishing ltd/ copyright control (apra) srcinal recording on features creatures: kindred spirits, music for harmonic whirliescomposed, performed and recorded by sarah hopkins © sarah hopkins apra srcinal recording on courtship: mo-mo track recorded in the village of damaindeh-bau, finisterre range, papua new guinea, taken from the album sacred flute music from new guinea: madang/windim mabu by ragnar johnson & jessica mayer © soma, courtesy of ideologic organ/editions mego
various bird song samples used by kind permission of jean c. roché from his recordings oiseaux du (birds of)venezuela various icelandic field recordings by chris watson thanks to david toop and stephen o’malley for their help with sourcing and clearing samples thanks to ásmundur jónsson @ smekkleysa cover artwork: creative direction by björk, jesse kanda and james merry cover art and photography by jesse kanda cover character by björk facepiece by james merry hair by raphael salley make-up by hungry production by juliette larthe avian fetus photographed by ken kohl inside/back artwork: creative direction by björk and m/m (paris) typography and digital illuminations by m/m (paris)
