Bjork may just be releasing a second album this year. On the heels of May's "Volta," the Icelandic singer posted a note on her Web site confirming that she recorded "a special live session album" with her current touring band "a few weeks ago" at Olympic Studios in London.
A Bjork spokesperson says "we don't really have more details at this point," but all indications are the album will be out before the end of the year.
Bjork tells Billboard.com that the group -- which includes LFO electronics wizard Mark Bell and Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale, as well as a 10-piece, all-female brass section from Iceland -- did some session-style recording in April in California. "Already we have come a long way," she says. "I still feel we have potential to grow even more."
Bjork says that large band, which plays tomorrow (Sept. 8) at the Virgin Festival in Toronto, gives her a tremendous amount of flexibility. "I started with arranging my old stuff to brass," she explains, "seeing what of it would work. A lot of the songs that were previously done with strings turned out even better with brass. Having a keyboardist means I can do songs with harpsichord, clavichord, celeste and voice only -- the more lyrical side of my songs.
"But having two guys on electronics and one drummer means that I can go as macho as it is possible for me (and) do the hooligan songs," she continues. "The brass helps out, with that obviously being quite 'butch,' but also makes it easy for me to do musically complex numbers. So overall the importance is on dynamism -- really, really quiet songs and really, really loud ones."
Bjork has dates booked into December for what she calls "the longest tour I have done" -- including a stop at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas, Madison Square Garden in New York City and the TIM Festival in Brazil. She says she plans to be on the road a total of 18 months, which will take her deep into 2008.
A Bjork spokesperson says "we don't really have more details at this point," but all indications are the album will be out before the end of the year.
Bjork tells Billboard.com that the group -- which includes LFO electronics wizard Mark Bell and Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale, as well as a 10-piece, all-female brass section from Iceland -- did some session-style recording in April in California. "Already we have come a long way," she says. "I still feel we have potential to grow even more."
Bjork says that large band, which plays tomorrow (Sept. 8) at the Virgin Festival in Toronto, gives her a tremendous amount of flexibility. "I started with arranging my old stuff to brass," she explains, "seeing what of it would work. A lot of the songs that were previously done with strings turned out even better with brass. Having a keyboardist means I can do songs with harpsichord, clavichord, celeste and voice only -- the more lyrical side of my songs.
"But having two guys on electronics and one drummer means that I can go as macho as it is possible for me (and) do the hooligan songs," she continues. "The brass helps out, with that obviously being quite 'butch,' but also makes it easy for me to do musically complex numbers. So overall the importance is on dynamism -- really, really quiet songs and really, really loud ones."
Bjork has dates booked into December for what she calls "the longest tour I have done" -- including a stop at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas, Madison Square Garden in New York City and the TIM Festival in Brazil. She says she plans to be on the road a total of 18 months, which will take her deep into 2008.
Comments