Bjork reflects on the death of her mum in songs on her new album.
The pop star has released her first new offering in five years and she’s now revealed several of the tracks on ‘Fossora’ explore her grief over the loss of her mother Hildur in 2018 as well as her reflections during the COVID-19 pandemic when she was writing her new tracks during lockdown.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Bjork explained: “I think this is the longest it’s ever taken me to do an album. It’s almost five years and I really, really loved that because usually I’m in such a hurry. I think maybe the pandemic, like with a lot of people, allowed myself to spend more time on this. But also, life is life … and it just keeps going. My mother also passed away during this time which is something we all have to face at one point I guess, is to say goodbye to your parents. So yeah, there are two songs sort of about that.”
Bjork recored the album during a time of change as she sold her home in New York and moved back to her native Iceland and she said being at home for long periods of time helped her creativity.
She went on: “I had already started a little bit to write when the pandemic hit, and I guess I got blessed because it sort of hit exactly at the sort of time when it would have been really good to go to a desert island and not have any interruptions.
“So, I did get lucky with the timing. I got really blessed in that sense. What happened is I just got every more into whatever I was into and didn’t get distracted by having to travel or tour or anything.
“So, I actually loved it, and I don’t think … I was home for two years year without travelling once and I absolutely loved it. It was amazing.”
She added of her move: ” During the pandemic I sold my flat in Brooklyn and so all my stuff was in containers crossing the Atlantic. It was the first time in 20 years that all my belongings were in one house and then the pandemic hit, and it sort of exaggerated that feeling of ‘Yes! I’m home at last. I love it.’ I was just pretending I was a proper villager.”