Björk shares transfixing new video for ‘Sorrowful Soil’

The clip sees the Icelandic music icon singing a mournful ode to motherhood towards a recently erupted volcano

Björk has shared the entrancing new video for ‘Sorrowful Soil’ – watch it below.

The video for the track, which is from the singer’s new album ‘Fossora’, finds the artist singing at the recently erupted Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall.

“’Sorrowful Soil’ is a song i wrote from random improvisations,” Björk said in a statement, adding “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”.

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Watch the video directed by Viðar Logi below.

The singer also explained that ‘Sorrowful Soil’ and ‘Ancestress’ are two songs from the album written for her mother, adding: “ancestress is my take on funeral-music but sorrowful soil is written 2 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 9 voices, not the usual 4 ( sopran, alt, teno , 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: (Credit: Vidar Logo)

The singer continued that “the lyric is an attempt for an eulogy and instead of the dry fact checking : place of birth , job, marriage , i wanted to celebrate the biological data like the fact that most girls are born with 400 eggs … and then in their lifetime they make 2-3 nests…

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“When my grandfather passed away there was a pamphlet at the hospital advising relatives how to talk to loved ones before they pass away. i loved how it went really generic and universal and said that all of them will give families to-do-lists (dry-cleaning and such), but also ask if they did well . the last part of the lyric is following this advice.”

In her recent cover interview with NME, the Icelandic music icon explained about how ‘Sorrowful Soil’ is a mournful ode to motherhood.

“‘Sorrowful Soil’ was written as [my mother] started to get seriously ill, so it’s more sad,” she said. “‘Ancestress’ was written after she passed away so it’s more like a celebration of her life. I like when you hear about Mexican and Irish people who want to celebrate someone’s life when they pass away.”

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