Volta (album)

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Volta
Studio album by Björk
Released	May 2, 2007 (Japan)
Recorded	2005 — 2007
Genre	Electronica, Alternative, Pop
Length	51:03
Label	One Little Indian Universal Music Atlantic Polydor
Producer	Björk Mark Bell Timbaland Danja
Professional reviews
The A.V. Club (B+) link All Music Guide link The Guardian link Metro link The Observer link Pitchfork Media (5.8/10) link Pop Matters link Robert Christgau link Rolling Stone link Sputnikmusic link
Björk chronology
(____surrounded): (2006) Volta (2007)
Singles from Volta
"Earth Intruders" Released: April 9, 2007 "Innocence" Released: July 23, 2007 "Declare Independence" Released: January 1, 2008 "Wanderlust" Released: 2008

Volta is the Grammy nominated^[1] sixth full-length studio album from Icelandic singer Björk, a follow-up to 2004's Medúlla and comprises ten new tracks. In an interview done for daily Internet publication Pitchfork, Björk talked for the first time about the theme of the album.^[2]

“

But with this one, it was different because I knew more emotionally what I wanted. And because I'd done two or three projects in a row that were quite serious, maybe I just needed to get that out of my system or something. So all I wanted to do for this album was just to have fun and do something that was full-bodied and really up.

”

The full album was accidentally made available on the UK iTunes Store at midnight on April 23, 2007 for a total of six hours, two weeks before the album's official release date.^[3] This led to the album being leaked online the following day.^[4]

For this album, Björk used brass instruments for almost all the songs. These were sometimes sampled.

The album attracted attention due to the inclusion of three tracks co-produced by R&B record producer Timbaland.^[5]

The track titles were confirmed in an article on MTV, March 14, 2007, and confirmed in a post on sprk.nl, 20 March 2007.^[6][7] One other track, "Trance"^[8], is rumored to appear as a future b-side. The track entitled "Vertebrae by Vertebrae" was retitled from the previous, "Energy". "Vertebrae by Vertebrae" uses a sample from Björk's previous project, "The Music from Drawing Restraint 9".

Volta was released in three editions in the UK: a digipak CD edition; a limited edition CD/DVD edition (featuring surround audio in DTS); and a double vinyl edition.^[9][10] The UK and Japanese editions of the album feature the Mark Bell Mix of "I See Who You Are" as a bonus track.^[11][12]Later editions released in regular jewelcase.

Volta spent nine weeks at number one on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums chart and in the first three months of release sold over half a million copies worldwide.

Contents 1 Collaborators 2 Tracklisting 2.1 Bonus tracks 3 Promotion 4 A sharp return to pop? 5 Volta Worldwide Tour 5.1 2007 5.1.1 First leg 5.1.2 Second leg 5.1.3 Third leg 5.1.4 Fourth leg 5.2 2008 5.2.1 Fifth leg 5.2.2 Sixth leg 5.2.3 Seventh leg 6 Chart performance 6.1 Singles 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Collaborators

A wide array of artists collaborated with Björk on material for the album.

Björk first contacted Timbaland about a possible collaboration in December 2005.^{[citation needed]} The first session took place in February 2006 in Studio 4 at Manhattan Center Studios in New York City, USA^[13][14][15], soon after Björk had visited Banda Aceh in February 2006 to view some of UNICEF's work with the children who were affected by the tsunami - in May 2005 Björk released the charity album Army of Me: Remixes and Covers to help UNICEF's work in the south east Asian region.^[16] Björk's experiences in Indonesia led to the track "Earth Intruders", originally a ten-minute jam which Björk then subsequently edited for the album version. Björk collaborated on seven tracks in total with Timbaland.^[17] Timbaland had stated that he intended one of the tracks he did with Björk to appear on his new solo album but this did not materialise.^[18][19] The lead-off single from Volta, "Earth Intruders", is co-produced by Timbaland, as well as the second single "Innocence"; the album track "Hope" is co-written by Timbaland.^[20][21] Björk has stated that the other Timbaland tracks are unlikely to ever be released.^[22]

Antony Hegarty, frontman and lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons, appears on the album for two duets—"The Dull Flame of Desire" and "My Juvenile".^[23][6] The collaborative sessions took place in Jamaica.^[24]

Björk has also put together her own fourteen-piece brass section of female Icelandic musicians who play on three tracks on the album. Its members comprise Sylvía Hlynsdóttir, Ása Berglind Hjálmarsdóttir, Dröfn Helgadóttir, Valdís Þorkelsdóttir, Karen J. Sturlaugsson, Björk Níelsdóttir, Sigrún Jónsdóttir, Harpa Jóhannsdóttir, Vilborg Jónsdóttir, Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir, Erla Axelsdóttir, Særún Pálmadóttir, Lilja Valdimarsdóttir and Brynja Guðmundsdóttir.^[25]

Other collaborators include Brian Chippendale (Drummer), Chris Corsano (Drummer), Toumani Diabaté (Malian kora player), Mark Bell (Musician and record producer), Sjón (Lyricist; contributed lyrics to one song on the album^[26]), Konono N°1 (Musical group from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo^[27]), Damian Taylor (Programmer, Engineer), Michael Pärt (Music Producer) and Min Xiao-Fen (Chinese pipa player).

[edit] Tracklisting

All tracks written by Björk except where noted.

1. "Earth Intruders" (Björk, Timothy Mosley, Nate Hills) ^{– 6:13}
2. "Wanderlust" (Björk, Sjón) ^{– 5:51}
3. "The Dull Flame of Desire" (featuring Antony Hegarty) ^{– 7:30}
4. "Innocence" (Björk, Mosley, Hills) ^{– 4:26}
5. "I See Who You Are" (Mark Bell, Björk) ^{– 4:21}
6. "Vertebrae by Vertebrae" ^{– 5:07}
7. "Pneumonia" ^{– 5:13}
8. "Hope" (Björk, Mosley) ^{– 4:02}
9. "Declare Independence" (Bell, Björk) ^{– 4:10}
10. "My Juvenile" (featuring Antony Hegarty) ^{– 4:01}

[edit] Bonus tracks

• "I See Who You Are" [Mark Bell Mix] ^{– 4:06}
  • Available on UK and Japanese editions and with pre-order from U.S. iTunes Store
• "Earth Intruders" [Mark Stent Extended Edit] ^{– 4:26}
  • Available from iTunes
• "Innocence" [Mark Stent Mix] ^{– 4:21}
  • Available from iTunes

A 3-disc special edition of the album named 'Volta Revisited' was rumoured to be released at the end of March 2008, and some online music shops made the album available for pre-order. 'Volta Revisited' will include all the remixes and videos from the Volta era.^[28] Additionally, the release will contain a live performance with her current live band recorded at London's Olympic Studios on June 25, 2007,^[29] shortly after her headline performance at Glastonbury Festival. It was originally announced on September 4, 2007 as the "Live Sessions Album", and was thought of as being a separate release.^[30] It's unknown if some B-Sides of the Volta era will be included on this release.

The lead single from Volta was "Earth Intruders", released digitally on April 9, 2007, though leaked on April 6, 2007.^[31][32] Originally expected to be released as a physical single on May 21, 2007, the release was instead replaced by another digital release, "Earth Intruders - Club Mixes", via iTunes.

The second single from Volta was originally meant to be "Declare Independence", but due to the worldwide success of Volta Björk had to perform more international promotion work than her label One Little Indian had originally planned, meaning that the previously-planned video shoot for "Declare Independence" with Michel Gondry in London couldn't take place. The deadline for the music video contest for "Innocence" (originally announced on March 19, 2007) was then brought forward a month to June 10, 2007 so as to provide a finished video able to coincide with the July release originally planned for Declare Independence. "Innocence", the other Timbaland-co-produced track, was released digitally across the globe on July 23, 2007. It was announced that the release would be available in the US on July 31, 2007,^[33] though this date was moved later.

"Declare Independence" was released as the third single from Volta on January 1, 2008.^[34] The video, directed by Michel Gondry (his seventh video with Björk, and the first since 1997's Bachelorette), was premiered on AOL on 6 December 2007 and on Channel 4 in the UK on December 13, 2007.^[35][36] A making-of was made available on November 29, 2007.^[37] The video shoot took place on October 11, 2007 in New York City.^[38] Unlike the first two singles from Volta, the single will have a physical release in the form of two 12” Vinyls, a CD and a DVD.^[39]

A video has also been shot for the track "Wanderlust",^[40] directed by Encyclopedia Pictura and shot in New York City in stereoscopic 3D.^[41] The video is said to involve "a mixture of large scale puppeteering, live action acrobatics, miniatures, and CG".^[42] The video has a tentative release date of February, 2008.^[43] The video was choreographed by Chris Elam, artistic director of Misnomer Dance, and feature Brynne Billingsley and Coco Karol. The song will be released as the fourth single from Volta. ^[44]

It was reported on the official site of Antony and the Johnsons that Antony Hegarty and Björk had shot a video for "The Dull Flame of Desire".^[45] The news was subsequently removed from the site.^[46]. Then Björk in a recent interview said that she and Antony have recorded themselves singing the song on a green screen, and that she sent the video to three directors of the Innocence video contest, and that they're doing the Dull Flame Of Desire video together via e-mail.

[edit] Promotion

As part of the marketing campaign for the album, a series of cryptic videos were circulated on various websites, specifically via YouTube and MySpace. The videos contained distorted audio samples and snippets of the lyrics from some of the tracks on Volta. The videos were discovered on March 28, 2007, though one of the videos had been uploaded to YouTube as early as March 19, 2007.^[47] A mysterious MySpace profile (link) was then discovered on March 28, 2007 which featured another cryptic video and four new audio samples. The profile belonged to a fictitious "Gerome Voltaire" (a play on Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the electric battery) of the band "itshardtofindabandname" from Iceland. An article on Pitchfork on March 29, 2007 later confirmed the authenticity of the viral marketing campaign.^[48] A podcast shot by Ragnheidur Gestsdóttir detailing the album's production was made available on iTunes on April 10, 2007 - six episodes were made for download, though the final installment cuts out before the video ends. As of yet, the podcast hasn't been fixed by iTunes.^[49]

On April 21, 2007, Björk appeared as musical guest on an episode of the U.S. comedy-variety show Saturday Night Live in promotion of the album. She performed the songs "Earth Intruders" and "Wanderlust".^[50][51][52]

On June 8, 2007 (recorded on June 5, 2007), Björk performed on the contemporary UK music show Later With Jools Holland for the fifth time in her solo career.^[53] She performed the songs "Earth Intruders", "The Anchor Song", and "Declare Independence."

On September 27, 2007, she appeared on the American late night talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, performing the song "Wanderlust".^[54] This show was after her headlining performance at a sold out show at Madison Square Garden.

[edit] A sharp return to pop?

In the run-up to the release of the album, many media outlets were lauding the album as a return to the supposed "pop" sound of Björk's earlier solo albums Debut and Post. This was due in part to the inclusion of three tracks co-produced by record producer Timbaland; in interviews before the album's release he had stated that seven of the tracks he worked with Björk on would end up on her album,^[55] seemingly indicating that there would be more of Timbaland's involvement on the record than there eventually was. At the time Timbaland had also had recent hits with Justin Timberlake (SexyBack) and Nelly Furtado (Promiscuous and Maneater), with him and his protégé Danja being responsible for some of the biggest hits of 2006 and 2007. As the news of Björk having worked with Timbaland spread across the internet, many websites started speculating on whether the album would be "hip hop" flavoured; in one interview Timbaland himself referred to the upcoming album as "hip hop".^[56]

“

It’s crazy – I’m going tonight to go hear it. It’s hip hop. I can’t really describe it to you – if I had it right now I’d just play it to you. That’s the best way for you to understand, and I’d let you tell me what it is.

”

The online music magazine Pitchfork, in their exclusive first interview with Björk for the promotion of Volta, quoted Björk as saying that the new album would be "full-bodied and really up".^[57] This was taken by fans as further evidence of a more "pop" album (as compared to her more recent output). A week later the head of Björk's record company, Derek Birkett, heralded the new album as "the most commercial thing she's ever done" in Music Week, the trade paper for the UK record industry.^[58]

Björk has since stated that the media effectively "got it wrong" with regard to their coverage of the album^{[citation needed]}, insisting that the album was not "hip hop" (and that she had not intended for it to be so either). She said that she did not want to work with Timbaland as a "hitmaker", or because of his affiliation to a particular genre, but wanted to work with him solely as a musician in his own right. She has also said that One Little Indian "always feel that ‘my latest release is the most commercial to date’",^[59] and that she feels Volta is no more commercial than any of her previous work.

[edit] Volta Worldwide Tour

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

Björk will be going on an 18 month tour in support of the album, her first tour in four years.^[60] On the tour, which will be conducted on a month-on/month-off basis, Björk will perform with fourteen musicians on stage. Björk's touring band for this tour constists of drummer Chris Corsano, musician Mark Bell (who also accompanied Björk on the Homogenic tour), pianist Jónas Sen (who played celeste on the tracks Gratitude and Cetacea on the Drawing Restraint 9 soundtrack) and a 10 piece female Icelandic brass section.^[61][62][63] Timbaland will not be joining Björk on the tour.^[64] Björk has described the tour as "kind of primitive, raw, almost butch", in marked contrast to her 2001 tour for Vespertine.^[65] At several of the concerts Björk has been joined on stage by some of the musicians who collaborated on the album (but who are not part of the touring band), including Antony Hegarty, Min Xiao-Fen and Toumani Diabaté. Many of the live performances from the current tour can be viewed on the video sharing website YouTube, shot by people in the audience. However, Björk has voiced her dislike of fans recording video/taking pictures (with flash) at her concerts using their mobile phones ("little cameras"), stating that it affects her ability to perform.^[66][67] The tour is taking Björk to countries that she has not played in for over a decade, including Mexico, Brazil, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.

Although not part of her touring schedule, Björk performed three songs^[68] at a benefit concert at Club NASA in Reykjavík on April 1 for FORMA, an Icelandic organisation which deals with people who have eating disorders.^[69] Tour rehearsals began after this performance.^[70] Björk's confirmed touring schedule throughout 2007 and 2008 is as follows.^[71]

[edit] 2007

[edit] First leg

• Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík, Iceland on April 9^[71]
• Headlining at the Coachella Festival in Indio, California in the USA on April 27^[72]
• Radio City Music Hall in New York City, USA on May 2
• United Palace Theater in New York City, USA on May 5^[73] (This concert was broadcasted on radio by WNYC)
• Apollo Theater in New York City, USA on May 8
• Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, USA on May 12
• Red Rocks, Morrison, Colorado, USA on May 15^[74]
• Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, USA on May 19
• Deer Lake Park in Vancouver, Canada on May 23
• Sasquatch! Music Festival in George, Washington, USA on May 26^[75]

[edit] Second leg

• Glastonbury Festival in Glastonbury, England on June 22^[76] (This concert was broadcasted on BBC Four (and later on BBC Two) by the BBC)
• Rock Werchter festival in Werchter, Belgium on June 28^[77]
• Heineken Open'er Festival in Gdynia, Poland on July 1^[78]
• Roskilde Festival in Roskilde, Denmark on July 7^[79] (This concert was broadcasted on radio by P3 and RTÉ)
• Open air concert in the Westerpark in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on July 8^[80]
• Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Bilbao, Spain on July 13
• La Granja de San Ildefonso in Segovia, Spain on July 15
• La Plaza de Toros de las Ventas in Madrid, Spain on July 18
• No Borders Music Festival in Codroipo, Italy on July 21
• Paléo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland on July 25^[81]

[edit] Third leg

• Arena of Nîmes in Nîmes, France on August 21^[82]
• Arena of Nîmes in Nîmes, France on August 23^[83]
• Rock en Seine in Paris, France in August 26^[84]
• Electric Picnic in Laois, Republic of Ireland on August 31^[85]
• Connect Music Festival in Argyll, Scotland on September 2^[86]
• Virgin Festival in Toronto, Canada on September 8^[87]
• Fox Theatre in Detroit, USA on September 11^[88]
• Austin City Limits Festival in Austin, Texas, USA on September 14^[89]
• Fox Theatre in Atlanta, USA on September 17^[90]
• Jacques-Cartier Pier in Montreal, Canada on September 21^[91]
• Madison Square Garden in New York City, USA on September 24^[92]

[edit] Fourth leg

• TIM Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 26
• TIM Festival in São Paulo, Brazil on October 28
• TIM Festival in Curitiba, Brazil on October 31
• Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 4
• Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 7
• Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo in Santiago, Chile on November 10^[93]
• Vértice del Museo de la Nación in Lima, Perú on November 13
• Palacio de los Deportes in Bogotá, Colombia on November 17
• Sonofilia Festival in Huentitan Canyon, Guadalajara, Mexico on December 8^[94]
• Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, USA on December 12
• Pearl Concert Theatre in Las Vegas, USA on December 15

[edit] 2008

[edit] Fifth leg

• Big Day Out in Auckland, New Zealand on January 18
• Big Day Out in Gold Coast, Australia on January 20
• Sydney Opera House forecourt (as part of the Sydney Festival) in Sydney, Australia on January 23
• Big Day Out in Sydney, Australia on January 25 (withdrew due to illness)
• Big Day Out in Melbourne, Australia on January 28
• Big Day Out in Adelaide, Australia on February 1
• Big Day Out in Perth, Australia on February 3
• Tennis Indoor Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia on February 12
• Olympic Hall in Seoul, South Korea on February 16
• Budokan in Tokyo, Japan on February 19
• Budokan in Tokyo, Japan on February 22
• Osaka Castle Hall in Osaka, Japan on February 25
• Hong Kong Asiaworld Arena in Hong Kong, China on February 28
• Shangai Changing Arena in Shangai, China on March 02

[edit] Sixth leg

• Manchester Apollo in Manchester, England on April 11
• Hammersmith Apollo in London, England on April 14
• Hammersmith Apollo in London, England on April 17
• Hammersmith Apollo in London, England on April 20
• Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England on April 22
• Wolverhampton Civic Hall in Wolverhampton, England on April 25
• Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland on April 28
• The Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England on May 1
• Sheffield City Hall in Sheffield, England on May 4 (withdrew due to illness)

[edit] Seventh leg

• Olympia in Paris, France on June 25
• (venue to be confirmed) in Reykjavík, Iceland on June 28
• Sheffield City Hall in Sheffield, England on July 2 (rescheduled)
• Wild In The Country Festival @ Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, UK on July 5
• Finlandia Park in Helsinki, Finland on July 10
• Vingio Park in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 13
• Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia on July 16
• Melt! Festival in Ferropolis, Germany on July 20
• Auditorium Parco della Musica in Roma, Italy on July 25
• Arena di Verona in Verona, Italy on July 28
• Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on July 31
• Kuruçeşme Arena in Istanbul, Turkey on August 3
• Festival Sudoeste TDM in Zambujeira do Mar, Portugal on August 7
• ExpoZaragoza 2008 @ Anfiteatro 43 in Zaragoza, Spain on August 10
• Ola Festival @ Playa de Guardias in El Ejido, Spain on August 15

[edit] Chart performance

This section does not cite any references or sources. (July 2007) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Chart	Peak Position	Sales (first week)
Australian ARIA Albums Chart	20
Austrian Albums Chart	5
Belgium (Flanders)	9
Belgium (Wallonia)	14
Canadian Album Chart	6
Canadian Alternative Album Chart	3
Czech Album Chart	16
Denmark Albums Chart	1
Estonia Albums Chart[95]	4
Finnish Albumm Charts	7
French Albums Chart[96]	3	62,900+
German Albums Chart	9
Irish Top 75 Albums[97]	10
Italian Albums Chart	11
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[98]	12	50,984
Mexican AMPROFON Albums Chart[99]	6
Mexican International Albums Chart[100]	3
Netherlands Albums Chart	17
New Zelaland RIANZ Albums Chart[101]	32
Norwegian Albums Chart	1
Polish Official Albums Chart	6
Portuguese Albums Chart	9
Spanish Albums Chart	5
Swedish Albums Chart	11
Swiss Albums Chart	3
UK Albums Chart	7	50,000+
U.S. Billboard 200[102]	9	100,000+
U.S. Billboard Top Electronic Albums[103]	1
U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums[104]	4
U.S. Billboard Top Digital Albums[105]	1
U.S Billboard Top Electonic Albums Year-End (2007)	3
European Hot 100 Albums	4
United World Chart[106]	4	787,975

[edit] Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Peak position
2007	"Earth Intruders" (digital release)	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	84
2007	"Earth Intruders" (digital release)	Official UK Singles Chart	78
2007	"Earth Intruders" (digital release)	Belgium (Wallonia)	49
2007	"Earth Intruders" (digital release)	Belgium (Flanders)	51
2008	"Declare Independence" (physical box release)	Italian Singles Chart	19
2008	"Innocence" (physical box release)	Italian Singles Chart	9

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• First news on bjork.com
• Official Volta site
• Volta mini-site
• Volta Review

v • d • e Björk Discography Studio albums Björk · Debut · Post · Homogenic · Vespertine · Medúlla · Volta Soundtracks Selmasongs · Drawing Restraint 9 Compilations The Best Mixes From Debut  · Telegram  · Greatest Hits  · Family Tree  · Live Box  · Army of Me: Remixes and Covers  · (____surrounded): Singles "Human Behaviour" · "Venus as a Boy" · "Play Dead" · "Big Time Sensuality" · "Violently Happy" · "Army of Me" · "Isobel" · "It's Oh So Quiet" · "Hyperballad" · "Possibly Maybe" · "I Miss You" · "Jóga" · "Bachelorette" · "Hunter" · "Alarm Call" · "All Is Full of Love" · "I've Seen It All" · "Hidden Place" · "Pagan Poetry" · "Cocoon" · "It's in Our Hands" · "Oceania" · "Who Is It" · "Triumph of a Heart" · "Where Is the Line" · "Earth Intruders" · "Innocence" · "Declare Independence" · "Wanderlust" Other Remixography · B-sides · Tours Bands Tappi Tíkarrass · KUKL · The Elgar Sisters · The Sugarcubes · Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar Films The Juniper Tree · Dancer in the Dark · Drawing Restraint 9 · Anna and the Moods