To say that The Gate is the first to be unlocked from her as-yet-untitled, soi-disant “Tinder album,” Björk doesn’t necessarily stray as far away from the heartbroken, broody timbres of the curative Vulnicura before it as one may well imagine. (With the inimitable Arca reportedly on production duties once more, this perhaps shouldn’t come as too huge a surprise, I suppose.) Nevertheless, beneath the quasi-ecclesiastic vocal layers and dark, spartan orchestral manoeuvres resides a rather heartwarming canticle, beginning with the revelation that her “healed chestwound” – a raw, open lesion on her previous release – has since been “transformed into a gate,” into and out of which she’s able to both give and receive detectably true affection. Perhaps aptly, given her notoriously chameleonic histories, she goes on to soothingly coo of having felt “split into many parts . . . that will reunite if you care for me,” the enigmatic Icelander lending a candid, decidedly self-aware voice – again, similar to that heard during Vulnicura – to proceedings. But ultimately, if this is Björk feeling “needy,” then all you really need know now is that The Gate is infinitely more scintillating than Tinder Gold ever could become…
The Gate is available on limited, single-sided 12” vinyl from September 22nd via Björk Shop.