Kristin Slipp: It’s impossible to choose one favorite album but up there in our top 5 is Björk’s Vespertine.
I was in college when I first heard it. I recall many evenings spent in my attic bedroom in Boston listening to the vinyl through my mom’s Marantz receiver. Björk is special in a million ways; one thing she does so well on all her records is create a feeling of extreme intimacy with the listener.
The vocal treatment is often bone-dry, close-mic’d, every inhalation on display. She describes the soundworld she built on Vespertine as a “huge embroidery piece,” which creates a soft, expansive bed on which her muscular-yet-delicate vocals lie.
It contains a lot of plucky, icy sounds but also so much crackle and warmth, a perfect balance of yin and yang. And the lyrics are soft and sentimental in a way I think only Björk can get away with.
Earnestness can come off as saccharine, but somehow when she does it, it only draws me closer. It’s like she’s whispering a secret to me and only me. In writing about it, I think I’ve convinced myself that this is, indeed, my very favorite album after all.
“Working On Me,” mmeadows’ new single, is out now. The Light Moves Around You album is our February 3.