Song Exploder - Björk - Stonemilker

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

In January 2015, Björk released Vulnicura. She described it as "a complete heartbreak album." And in November, she released Vulnicura Strings, a companion album that stripped away the electronics. In this episode, Bjork breaks down the making of both the original version of the song "Stonemilker," which you’re hearing now, as well as the strings version. She traces her writing and recording process for the track, her collaboration with the electronic producer Arca, and why she wanted to make a second version. For more, visit songexploder.net/björk.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe. This week, I wanted to go back and revisit the Bjork episode that I made back in 2015, in part because it's one of my favorite episodes. And in part because this fall in 2022, Bjork has a new album coming out, and she also has a new podcast, where she talks about the making of each one of her albums in conversation with her collaborators. The show is called Sonic Symbolism. Here's the trailer. Most of us go through faces in our lives that take roughly three years. And it is not a coincidence that this is often how long it takes to make an album, a book, or a film.

In the conversations on this podcast, me and my friends try to capture which moods, timbers and tempos were vibrating during each of my ten albums. When I get asked about the differences of the music on my records, I find it quickest to use visual shortcuts. That's kinda why my album covers are almost like homemade tarot cards. The image on the front might seem just like a visual moment, but for me it is simply describing the sound of it. I try to express this with a color palette,

The textures of the textiles with what I'm holding and the angle of the posture I'm in shows its relationship to the world. Also the emotion of the mouth tries to share the overall mood of the album. Perhaps you can call this some sort of sonic symbolism. I hope you enjoy it. Worms, Piersk. The podcast is brought to you by Mailchimp Presents and Talkhouse, and the first episodes are already out. You can go subscribe to Sonic Symbolism

wherever you get your podcasts. So here's the Song Exploder episode from 2015. When I recorded this interview with Bjork, she was in London in a hotel room and the phone kept getting disconnected. I'd only been doing the podcast for about 18 months and I was so nervous because she was one of the guests

I had dreamed about having on the show. But Bjork was really gracious and she let the interview go long so I could get all my questions in. And it's still one of the biggest highlights in my time doing this show. One other thing before we get into the episode. In it, Björk refers to her collaborator Arka as Alejandro and uses He-Him pronouns.

But since that time, Arka has changed her name to Alejandra. I asked her about re-earing this interview with her outdated name and pronouns, and she gave me her permission. Okay, here it is. My name is Björk, and I'm here to talk about Stone Milnecura. In January 2015, Björk released Vulnikura. She described it as a complete heartbreak album, and in November, she released Vulnacura Strings, a companion album that stripped away the electronics. In this episode, Björk breaks down the making of both the original version of the song

Stone Milker, which you're hearing now, and the strings version, which you'll hear at the end. She traces her writing and recording process, her collaboration with the electronic producer Arka, and why she wanted to make a strings-only version. You know, the whole song is emotionally about someone who's trying to get emotions out of another person. It's about wanting clarity, wanting simplicity, and talking to someone who wants things to be really complex and foggy and unclear. And you're saying, okay, I've got clarity. So, you know, wanted or not. So it's like sort of celebrating simplicity and clarity.

I was walking on a beach and I was kind of walking back and forth and the lyrics kind of came along kind of without me really editing them the strength of this album really is just simplicity and you know this kind of like

thinking out loud feeling and I shouldn't be too clever it would work against it so I kind of just went with the first words that actually came Moments of clarity are so rare. I better document this. Probably the most obvious lyrics I've ever written.

I actually wrote a whole other lyric to the song, which was really maybe a bit too clever for its own good. But something in me just said, no, don't touch it. It has to be like almost clumsy or naive. That's sort of the strength and the weakness of the song at the same time. I'm mostly a singer. But I think the way I sing,

I usually wait for a day where I'm kind of probably more impulsive than other days in one way or another. So when I sing, I'll go to this place where it's more similar to when I'm doing a concert. I will not have so much of my brain in there. I'll just like warm up my voice, have a coffee, and I'll just jump in the deep end

where you're more a performer. But I think more and more, ever since I got my laptop 15 years ago, probably the biggest part of me as a musician is the editor. I probably spend like 90% of my time making music editing. You know, if it's editing vocals,

editing beats, editing instruments. I think that's a very big part of my work now. So that's also another side. Who can share? Shut down the chances.

That sentence is there and the reverb is cut there just to show what happens if you are closed. If you cut down chances, it's a certain closing a door there. And sometimes you show sonically something emotional. The melody is so simple.

And the words are so simple, I actually waited for the right microphone because it had to be really like that you hear every detail in the voice. So it's like a really high definition human that's there. after I'd written the songs and I was starting working on the beats I met Alejandro Arca and it was a magical

relationship and he was obviously so talented so I decided to take a back step and for it to be a handshake between me and him we sat next to each other and we talked about every single thing

because I'd already written all the songs with Stone Milker It was very obvious that that song is very simple. So we didn't really need a crazy beat thing going on. It just had to be really supportive of the song. And almost acoustic, like it's a symphony orchestra playing, and the beat would come from the cattle drum or something. You know, like just a very soft support, which Alejandro provided.

So I would sit down at a keyboard and just work out the core. And then when I'm ready with the chord structure, because I knew it would be for strings, I would take it to violins, violas, cellos, because I kind of wanted a lot of it to be in the strings. We actually saved it till last, and I did several days of recording the strings. I had 30 players. And then I would do two sets of arrangements, so basically they are in theory 60. because it needed that sort of panoramic feeling to have that sort of smooth cream-like perfection.

For me, it was very important with Stone Milkoher that the strings were kind of cyclical, this chord cycle that kind of gives you this feeling. It can go on and on in circles and gives you this feeling of equilibrium. Like the person who's singing the song is showing some sort of harmony to someone as an example. Several recordings of the strings.

It'd be like a tower of equilibrium that you are standing in, like a monument of equilibrium. And you're standing in the middle of it and you're small and it's huge. And it just goes circle and circle. And you feel really safe and secure. And that's sort of the clarity that I would want to offer, try to offer emotionally in the song. And the strings are kind of the tool I have to try to make this kind of cradle.

So I spent a lot of time going through all the takes and all the mics and try to make this kind of tight woven net that each string instrument was equally important because they have all these kind of sub melodies that you could hear them all, but it would still not be a solo that it was like this balance of this kind of woven string tower that it was keeping you safe.

Because there was so much work and so much about the textures in the strings I thought it deserved a version where the beats are not shadowing the string textures, that there was another version where it exists, and that I would get not just the strings functioning as a whole, but also have solo violins to do more and to kind of indulge more in the microphone textures. Also, I think it's a question of tempo. Like, I feel the main version of Will Nukura has more drive.

You know, the beats obviously give it more energy. But I felt there was another version of Ulnicura with just the strings where it's more slower pace, you know, more like you're reading a book at home, you know, like lying outside in the moss, looking at the sky. Stone milk, I hear. It's a one big question, really. You're asking someone a question, suggesting something, but you don't want to push too hard, trying to, in a very, in the most harmonious way possible, trying to prove a point. So it's sort of a very gentle suggestion Because I think staying emotionally open

It's a choice, you know I think it's equally hard for all of us And we're just all doing our best But I think there's also a choice You know, do you want to try And then maybe fail half of the time And then succeed half of the time or whatever Your odds are

Or do you just Is it your choice to not even try? And now here's the strings version of Stone Milker in its entirety. Visit SongExploder.net slash Bjork for more information. You can find links to buy both versions of Stone Milker and watch the music video. You'll also find a link to Sonic Symbolism, Bjork's new podcast. I have a new album of my own coming out on April 24th. It's been about 15 years since I last put out a full length,

and this is the first one that'll be out under my own name, Rishi Kesh Her Way. I started making Song Exploder when I was feeling lost in my own music career. And then for over a decade, I've gotten to have these incredible conversations about the process of making music, talking to other artists. And it made me completely rethink my relationship to music and my way of writing songs. And this album is the product of all of that. It features contributions from some of my favorite artists, including some folks that you may have heard on this podcast, like Iron and Wine, Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenlily, and the producer Phil Wine Rope. I'm going to be on tour playing in cities across the U.S. starting in April,

and I'm trying to bring the spirit of the podcast with me. So every show that I'm playing will begin with a conversation about the album with a different amazing guest moderator in each city, like Adam Scott, Samin Nasrat, Jason Manzukas, Josh Molina, Minjin Lee, Ken Jennings, John Roderick, Austin Cleon, and more. They're all going to be my conversation partners on stage. And then I'll play with my band. The album is called In the Last Hour of...

light, and the first couple songs are out now. You can listen to the music and get tickets for the shows on my website, rishikash.co, or just go to songexploder.net slash live. That's songexploder.net slash live. Thanks. Special thanks to the folks at MailChimp Presents and to Christian Coons. Christian is the producer of Bjork's new podcast, but for several years he helped make Song Exploder. Actually, one of the very first things he did when he started in 2015 was transcribe the interview for this Bjork episode. Song Exploder and the show's theme music were created by me. This 2022 reissue was produced by me, along with Craig Ely, with artwork by Carlos Lerma,

music clearance by Kathleen Smith, and production assistants from Chloe Parker, Mary Dolan, and Nick Song. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, listener-supported, artist-owned podcasts. You can learn more about our shows at Radiotopia.com. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Rishi Hereway, and you can follow the show at SongExploder. You can also get a SongExploder t-shirt at songexploder.net slash shirt. I'm Rishi-Kesh Hereway. Thanks for listening.