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Icelandic wonder Björk has used New York City as her personal performance space in many ways this month. From the retrospective exhibit of hers currently available to view at Museum of Modern Art, to her series of seven sold out concerts across prestigious New York City theaters (Carnegie Hall, The Kings Theatre, and New York City Center). Björk currently has a firm grip on the city.
The set of New York shows are a part of the exclusive tour for her beautiful new album Vulnicura. Yesterday Björk played her second show of the series at Carnegie Hall (where the first was also held), an usual matinee show that kicked off promptly at noon. This was my first time ever stepping foot in the historic Carnegie Hall, and I can’t possibly think of a better first artist to see there,
Björk came out wearing a lovely long dress, with her faced concealed in the same headpiece made of quills found on the colorful Vulnicura album cover. She was joined by the 15-piece string orchestra Alarm Will Sound, as well as producer, and Vulnicura collaborater Arca (Alejandro Ghersi) and drummer Manu Delgado. Together they formed an incredible live team that majestically brought the sounds of Björk to life in stunning intimate fashion.
The performance was broken up into two sections, with the first being the first six songs from Vulnicura played in order. Arca and Delgado brought the electronic and rhythmic side to life, but it was the string orchestration from Alarm Will Sound that gave her performance an incredible amount of beauty and grace. Their presence made each song even more of an emotional wallop that often left the crowd on the verge of tears, especially with the 10-minute stunner that is “Family.” Behind the musicians, a video projection of animated musical notation scrolled past, tipping the audience off to which sounds were about to launch into the air. But during “History of Touches,” a ballad mourning a malfunctioning love, the music fittingly slipped off the grid, forcing Björk to improvise with aleatoric wails. It didn’t feel like a derailment. The song wanted to be free.
After a 20-minute intermission she returned to the stage without her mask and turned back the clock to some of her older beloved material such as “Harm Of Will,” “The Pleasure Is All Mine, “Undo” and “Come To Me.” She also returned to Vulnicura playing “Quicksand” and “Mouth Mantra,” leaving “Atom Dance” as the odd song out, probably because Antony Hegarty wasn’t able to make the show. Wearing a lavender frock and a hint of optimism on her face. “Women like us, we strengthen most,” she sang on “Pleasure Is All Mine” from 2004’s “Medulla,” nodding to the latent maternal grace that girds so much of her songbook.
And during the show-closing “Wanderlust,” she offered a mantra for the perpetual uncertainty of existence itself: “I feel at home whenever the unknown surrounds me.”
The audience generally held back its affectionate applause until the last note of each song decayed into silence, and when it was all over, the crowd was plunged back into the gray daylight of 57th Street.
You go into seeing a big time performer such as Björk differently, with with weighty expectations that seem nearly impossible to be filled. But we go into these shows with a different mind set because they truly are unique excursions that take your mind, body, and soul, and transport them to a totally different place that only these artists can summon. For a large scale show it felt very personal and intimate, leaving me in a bewildered trance that I couldn’t shake. I don’t know if I’ll experience another show quite like it this year.
Björk Setlist:
1. Stonemilker
2. Lionsong
3. History of Touches
4. Black Lake
5. Family
6. Notget
Intermission:
7. Pleasure Is All Mine
8. Come to Me
9. Undo
10. I See Who You Are
11. Quicksand
12. Mouth Mantra
Encore:
13. Harm of Will
14. Wanderlust
The Fat Angel Sings 