The Nórdica Libros publishing house, specialized in Nordic literature, has recently published ‘Björk. A constant mutation’, a volume that compiles essays, reviews and interviews about the life and work of the Icelandic singer. The book opens with a nice preface by Sjón, Icelandic poet, friend of Björk and co-author of some of her songs, such as ‘Jóga’, and the texts originally published in English have been expertly translated by Blanca Gago Domínguez.
‘Björk. A constant mutation’ reviews Björk’s career album by album, from ‘Debut’ (1993) to ‘Fossora’ (2022), including ‘Oral’, her single with Rosalía (2023). It is especially fascinating to approach the texts that were written at the time about albums as remote as ‘Debut’ or ‘Post’ (1995), the second about to turn 30 years old, because nothing has changed so much: then composing musically eclectic albums, “Breaking with genres” was also considered a sign of the avant-garde.
In the context of her musical career, ‘Björk. A constant mutation’ does not overlook the main milestones that have marked the singer’s public life and that in no way could have been excluded from the story, as they are closely related to her work, her career or her perspective on fame, such as his beating of a reporter at the Bangkok airport, the bomb threat from fan Ricardo López, the infernal filming of ‘Dancing in the Dark’ (2000), the swan dress or his divorce.
The selection of articles, provided by Anglo-Saxon media such as The Guardian, Icelandic media such as The Reykjavík Grapevine or Spanish media such as Rockdelux, JENESAISPOP or El Mundo, and published between 1993 and 2023, is excellent for several reasons. Firstly, they provide different perspectives of Björk’s work, their own and those of others, positive and negative, enriching its analysis. The book is not a panegyric about Björk, but a very balanced compilation that helps to understand the way in which music journalism has approached her work, but always contextualized around Björk’s voice and her perspective or intention.
Additionally, articles included in ‘Björk. A constant mutation’ are not necessarily foreseeable. The 2015 Pitchfork report probably didn’t fit due to space or licensing issues, but the best thing is that one of the included interviews – from El Mundo – mentions it, inviting Björk to expand on her words about machismo in music. Better is the inclusion of a 2012 interview with Björk, by The Guardian, during the ‘Biophilia’ era, which portrays Björk at home improvising a salad. It is a very strange approach to his intimacy that many of us did not remember.
Above all, ‘Björk. A constant mutation’ highlights a discography full of tremendously personal and unique albums, each one of them, even those that seem to imitate the past, because Björk always finds ways to make them stand out. Time is working very well for works like ‘Utopia’ (2017) and ‘Fossora’ (2022) because absolutely no one writes like Björk. ‘Björk. A constant mutation’ in the end serves to underline that at the center of this mutant artist is a single composer committed to curiosity, always walking ahead, at her own pace.
