One Feeling At A Time

Björk “Lion Song”

Björk labels this track as “five months before” in the packaging of Vulnicura, as in it was written nearly half a year before she and Matthew Barney permanently split. It’s basically a song in which she observes a change in their dynamic, and wonders what to do – call him out on his moodiness, wait it out, stew in frustration. It’s a very passive sentiment, and that carries through most of the album, with Björk addressing the dissolution of a very long relationship as though it’s just something happening to her, rather than something she is directly involved in. I think this rings emotionally true to an extent, especially if you’re the one being left behind. But there’s a strange void in this music, this empty space where the singer’s complicity would be. Is she actually blameless in all this, or is it just too painful to address?

Buy it from iTunes.