Björk has shared a video for ‘Sorrowful Soil’ from her recent album, Fossora.
The oval frame video is directed by Viðar Logi, who was also responsible for the cover art for Fossora. The visual, which you can watch above, depicts Björk singing a eulogy to her late mother close to the recently erupted Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland.
In a lengthy statement about the song’s origins, Björk said the track emerged from "random improvisations," and added: "I kinda thought I was writing another song but then when I edited it I threw away most of the stuff and this is what stood there staring at me."
She continued: "For me, ‘Sorrowful Soil’ and ‘Ancestress’ are the two songs on Fossora written for my mother… ‘Ancestress’ is my take on funeral music, but ‘Sorrowful Soil’ is written two years before and mirrors more that last chapter.
"At the time, I had been working with the fantastic Hamrahlid Choir and wanted to give them the piece they deserved, and with that intention unknowingly wrote what the conductor Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir said was the most difficult piece they ever sang. It has nine voices, not the usual four (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) which took the choir evenings of a whole summer to rehearse. I am so incredibly grateful to them for this sacrifice and you can hear all of it in the recording."
Björk previously shared a video for the other track on Fossora that was written for her late mother, ‘Ancestress’, just before the album was released in September.
