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Vespertine
by Bjork

Bjork reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 88 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.4 out of 10
based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 48 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Bjork's follow-up to 1997's 'Homogenic' and last year's soundtrack to Dancer In The Dark is closer in sound and mood to the latter, taking a quieter, more ambient approach. Produced by San Francisco-based electronic artists Matmos, 'Vespertine' utilizes mainly electronic instrumentation, much of which was recorded by Bjork in Iceland. The lead single is "Hidden Place."

LABEL: Elektra/Asylum
RELEASE DATE: 28 August 2001
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Alternative, Electronic

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

95
Nude As The News
A beautiful, magical, mystical soundtrack; similar to Homogenic, but in a sense, more light-hearted and full of love.
Read Full Review
90
Dot Music
It's unlikely you'll hear anything as near to perfect, magical and downright lovely all year.
Read Full Review
90
CDNow
With Vespertine, Bjork has constructed a whispering wall of wonders, and instead of forcing everyone out, has invited the world to look through the cracks.
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90
All Music Guide
Vespertine isn’t so much a departure from her previous work as a culmination of the musical distance she’s traveled...
Read Full Review
90
The Wire
In the end, Vespertine commits its magic by daring to go places more obvious and more human than one would have ever expected. [#210, p.52]
Read Full Review
90
Ink Blot Magazine
While Homogenic, Post, and Debut were emotionally frenetic and often musically confrontational, Vespertine is rich in its tranquillity and spiritual divinity, full of astute observation and patient acceptance.
Read Full Review
90
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Her best album to date.... Vespertine is an album of small gestures, one almost challenging in its stillness.... The cumulative effect is an album both timeless and of the moment, an avant-garde electronic-pop exploration of classic themes.
Read Full Review
90
New York Magazine
Her new album, Vespertine, is the singer's most complete and compelling expression of that wondrous worldview yet.
Read Full Review
90
Drawer B
As difficult as it is gorgeous, Vespertine ranks among Bjork’s finest albums.
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90
Billboard
This intimate, often breathtakingly beautiful collection (primarily produced by the artist herself) finds solace in the calm after the storm.
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90
PopMatters
The best album of Björk's career
Read Full Review
89
Austin Chronicle
This is breathtaking, life-affirming music with the power to heal and restore. It's that beautiful.
Read Full Review
88
Spin Cycle
The most introspective and slow-tempo collection in Björk's catalog, "Vespertine" proves to be a rousing showcase of her captivating vocal talent.
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly
When it all comes together, as on ''Hidden Place'' or ''It's Not Up to You,'' Björk and her electronica collaborators create moving interplanetary chorals. ''Vespertine'' is also her most erotic work....
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83
E! Online
Björk's latest is as delightfully eccentric as her choice in outfits, blending scratchy electronic programming with tinkling music boxes and squeezing her formidable voice into ancient-sounding harmonies or futuristic whispers.
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80
Playlouder
This is a Warp-inspired wonderland of intricate glitches, murmuring glacial low-end smoothness, and subtle, filmic orchestration.
Read Full Review
80
Blender
Vespertine is her most intensely private and intimate-sounding work, a journey through an interior world that is quietly ecstatic, erotic and playful.
80
Village Voice
Vespertine is an album for small curtained establishments, for taking your "little ghetto blaster" onto back streets, for intimate and precious occasions.
Read Full Review
80
Uncut
She uses her voice as well as she ever has, giving the moods light and shade. [Sep 2001, p.104]
80
Sonicnet
1997's Homogenic, also a mixture of heavy beats and strings, was not as varied or complete as this album, and while Selmasongs, last year's soundtrack to "Dancer in the Dark" (in which Björk starred), was lovely in its own sweeping, cinematic way, Björk has surpassed herself with this new work.
Read Full Review
80
Neumu.net
Björk continues to mine the fine line of minimalist lushness that her last album gave birth to; with tiny, crackling, skittery beats weaving open-toned ambient beds in which her breathy, pushed-forward vocals lithely lay, the closeness and drama of her every syllable commanding attention.
Read Full Review
80
Rolling Stone
The best solo record of her career... Vespertine is the closest any pop-vocal album has come to the luxuriant Zen of the new minimalist techno, even beating Radiohead's nervy Kid A. Where Kid A sounded like a record of risk, the work of a band on unfamiliar ground, Bjork sings here as if she owns and knows every inch of space and shadow in these songs.
Read Full Review
80
Alternative Press
Vespertine isn't immediately accessible, but after repeat listens, a smoldering heart of emotion and a true pop sensibility reveal themselves. [Oct 2001, p.77]
80
Mojo
A gorgeous reverie. [Sep 2001, p.99]
80
Q Magazine
Vespertine quietly proves that cutting-edge production and human contact aren't mutually exclusive. [Sep 2001, p.109]
Read Full Review
72
Pitchfork
While undeniably beautiful, Vespertine fails to give electronic music the forward push it received on Björk's preceding albums. Rather than designing sounds never before imagined, the album merely sounds current, relying on the technology of standard studio software and the explorations of the Powerbook elite.... Still, Vespertine makes for an intriguing listen, and manages to hold its own after hours on repeat.
Read Full Review
70
Almost Cool
If there's one question to be raised with the album, it's that it's all simply so lush and nice that on some levels it fails to excite.
Read Full Review
60
Armchair DJ
The entire LP takes on a sort of plodding sameness even as the overall sonics soar.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 48 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Robbie C gave it a10:
A phenomenon.

Esteban V gave it a9:
This album is beautiful. The best track is Unison, with her voice at its peak and the interlude Frosti sounds magical. Although a few tracks sound similar if you understand music you can find each tracks uniqueness beyond the lyrical context.

Neezaam R gave it a10:
My personal favourite Bjork album,transports you to a very beautiful sensual place.

David O gave it a10:
Like Kid A with a soul.

Bruno gave it a10:
One of the best ones ever done!

Julia A gave it a9:
Bjork sung with both love and secrets to its core in this record.very feminine,gentle,but also dark and hidden.an album that tells about being a woman in lots of perspective.

R G gave it a10:
this is one of the best records i have heard in recent memory. hidden place sets the track for the record and cocoon portrays one of the sexiest songs. its not up to you is a glorious and revealing pop song and undo works in the same manner. i cant talk about every track but they all complement each other and feed of each other. sun in my mouth repeats hemingway with sparse music. Unisom is one of the best closers of the new mellenium. bjork keeps stretching herself and her music with refreshing themes and sounds. not many artists can do that and this a great age we live in where an artist of her calibour can be soo popular around the world

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