3. BjörkVespertine

I did A-level art and there was this guy called John, talking about computers. He said if you do a degree in art, you might nowadays use computers to make graphics. He said, ‘my friends who play in this band Coldcut make music with laptops, with computers’. I was like [with sarcasm] ‘wow, I can use a computer, maybe I could make some music with a computer?’ 

I think Vespertine is the absolute epitome of early 2000s laptop music albums. It sounded so cohesive, with these really beautiful textures; a voice, with sounds that were so new to me. I’d often have my bedroom door slightly ajar. I was playing Vespertine and my dad walked past and asked what it was. I told him it was Björk. ‘I’ve heard of Björk’, he said. ‘Can you lend it to me?’ 

He completely loved it. He died years ago and the only proper concert that we went to together was the first Vespertine show at the Coliseum in London. He treated me to box seats and wanted to get there for the support, Matmos. They started, and my dad was like, ‘wow, this is fascinating, isn’t it brilliant?’ At the interval he went out to get drinks and came back with a T-shirt for me. We really bonded over it. He played it at Christmas, and his mother, my grandmother, when ‘Frosty’ came on said, ‘it’s like somebody’s walking through the snow’. I thought ‘wow, Grandma Cornish gets it’. I made her a tape of it, so there’s three generations who all love Vespertine. I wish my dad was still here so I could say to him: remember when we saw Björk and there were those people supporting her? Well, I’ve done a track with them.