Dazed & Confused : Was Debut made without any pressure ? Was it a fun experience ?
Björk : Yeah, it was really fun. I mean, indie music was the early
80s thing and I never really liked indie music – it just wasn’t for me.
I was kind of in an indie band but what I listened to as a teenager was more Brian Eno and Kate Bush and electronic music. I think it wasn’t just me that did that switch... when acid house started, people were like ‘yes !’
How was making your second album Post in comparison ?
Debut was a collection of melodies I’d written since I was a teenager, I think a lot of first albums are like that. But Post was stuff I’d written in England (since Debut). Debut was almost my diary for the last 15 years and Post was more me being promiscuous in London ! Doing two songs with Graham Massey, two songs with Tricky, a song with Howie B and songs with Nellee Hooper.
Could you ever work in complete isolation ?
Well, the older I get I seem to go further and further towards that with each album. So I do 80-90 per cent on my own, and just towards the end I kind of freak out and have a bit of a party in my studio.
Why did you select 16bit as your future cover stars ?
I had a drunk night with Chris Cunningham and he played them to me. I was around when drum & bass got made... and it was weird, because I was such a purist then that I never put it in my music because it was not mine – I thought it would have been like shopping or something. Now, all these years later, you get the next generation. It was really interesting when they put that drum & bass loop at the end of “Crystalline”. I was just like... wow !
text MICHAEL CRAGG
styling ROBBIE SPENCER
hair RAPHAEL SALLY at STREETERS make-up GEMMA SMITH-EDHOUSE
at STREETERS using MYFACE COSMETICS styling assistant ELIZABETH FRASER-BELL make-up assistant HADEEL EL-TAL
top by GILES ; head piece custom made by ZARA GORMAN
