ALBUM OF THE WEEK
BJORK
Utopia
One Little Indian
After the crushing sadness of Vulnicura (2015), on which, stunned by grief and rage, Björk dissected her long relationship with the artist Matthew Barney, the singer has relocated hope, resolve and clarity on her ninth studio album. Collaborating again with the Venezuelan producer Arca, Björk continues her exploration of structurelessness here: those with a preference for traditional song formats will find Utopia hard going. As if that weren’t off-putting enough, there are also an awful lot of flutes — lashings of them. Never a staple in the pop armoury, they take centre stage here, alongside a singer whose vocal lines go where they will, impervious to received notions of melody.
That sounds like a turn-off, right?
