björk: black lake

björk: black lake taken from the album vulnicura.

shot on location in iceland by award-winning director andrew thomas huang, the ten minute long film for ‘black lake’ was commissioned by the museum of modern art, new york and debuted there earlier this year.

the film includes motifs from the icelandic landscape—caves, ravines, lava, and moss fields—and reflects ideas of pain, perishing, and rebirth. ‘black lake’ was realized in collaboration with the 3-d design firm autodesk, who worked along with david benjamin and the living on the installation at moma. ‘black lake’ was produced by andrew thomas huang’s uk based music video production company colonel blimp.

video credits:

production company: colonel blimp
icelandic production company: truenorth
client: one little indian records & moma

artist: björk
film & track title: black lake
music: björk

director: andrew thomas huang
creative direction by björk, andrew thomas huang & james merry
executive producers: tamsin glasson & kevin shapiro

producer: tamsin glasson

cinematographer: lasse frank

production designer: thorgeir frímann ódinsson

choreographer: erna ómarsdóttir

colorist: brandon chavez

truenorth, icelandic production:
general manager: helga margrét reykdal
executive producer: rafnar hermannsson
producer: hrönn kristinsdóttir

production manager: linda vilhjálmsdóttir
location manager: haraldur daddi bjarnason

camera department:
stedicam operator: ari robbins
focus puller: ómar jabali
loader: elva sara ingvarsdottir
digital image technician: búi baldvinsson & gudjón hrafn gu›mundsson
audio recording and playback: frank arthur blöndahl cassata
playback assistants: gestur sveinsson, fannar freyr magnússon

lighting:
gaffer: jonathan devaney
key grip: hinrik jónsson
assistant lighting & grip: valdimar jóhannsson, bergur hinriksson
assistant grip: dagur benedikt reynisson

production design:
production designer: thorgeir frímann ó›insson
art director: martin busko
props master: haukur m. hrafnsson
props assistants: fridrik steinn fridriksson, soffía ósk kristinsdóttir
carpenter: hilmar páll jóhannsson
sfx supervisor: davíd geir jónasson

wardrobe design:
wardrobe designer: iris van herpen
wardrobe design manager: bradly klerks
make-up: andrew gallimore at clm london
hair: lok lau at clm london
assistant make-up: frida maria hardardóttir

production:
1st assistant director: george nessis
2nd assistant director/key pa: brynja dögg
pa: kormákur arthursson, hilmar mathiesen, fernando cunha, jerry
nessis, árni jóhann ólafsson
stand-in: maría nielsen

catering:
dorthy lísa woodland

drivers:
camera van driver: ómar jabali
equipment truck driver: hinrik jónsson
wardrobe motorhome driver: anna lind sævarsdóttir
facility bus: jökull jónsson
nnw trucks: hulda lára jónsdóttir

vfx capture xrez studio: eric hanson & greg downing
local icelandic assistant to xrez studio: ólafur haraldsson

vfx: wolf & crow
executive producer: kevin shapiro

production: kate berry
production: cole darby
production: matt olson
production emmi nakagawa
vfx supervisor: adam swaab
fx artist: brett albert
technical director: henry foster
lead flame: brandon sanders
compositor: chad howitt
compositor: sven dreesbach
compositor: youn kwack
compositor: lindsey fry
cg lead: matt berenty
cg artist: richard daniels
cg artist: troy barsness
cg artist: josephine khang
cg artist: joseph grossmann
rotoscoping: dan everson

powered by autodesk
autodesk executive sponsor: chris bradshaw; vp & chief marketing
officer
autodesk producer: brian pene; director of emerging technology and cto
autodesk behind the scenes location capture: keith chamberlain
autodesk practical effects designer: arthur harsuvanakit
autodesk finance: tasha koellsted, jezabel cloutier

black lake theater environment by david benjamin, ray wang, jim
stoddart, and brian lee

special thanks to tom berendsen, andrew melchior, brian pene, adam
joseph, michelle jaffe , james studholme and martin howe.

[omarhamadeh]

All these comments talking about how she "isn't human". I totally disagree! She represents the fullest form of human I've ever seen. So raw, emotional, and pure.
Beautiful.

[analuzpena]

When she hits her chest it's like you can really feel her pain. That's pure art right there.

[BjorksMusic]

During an interview for Grapevine.is Björk  clarifies why 'Black Lake' is so long:
"It’s like, when you’re trying to express something and you sort of start, but then nothing comes out. You can maybe utter five words and then you’re just stuck in the pain. And the chords in-between, they sort of represent that. We called them “the freezes, ” these moments between the verses. They’re longer than the verses, actually. It’s just that one emotion when you’re stuck. It is hard, but it’s also the only way to escape the pain, just going back and having another go, trying to make another verse." - Bjork

In the album booklet, the sub-title for this song is “2 months after”, signifying that this song was written 2 months after the breakup of the relationship between Björk and Matthew Barney.

[gate]

Her every song, video, is like a section of a chapter of a huge novel. This is one of my favourite videos of her, these icelandic locations, the melancholy, its perfect. Who ever is hurting, remember pain doesn’t last forever, it will go away, just like in the video, she is finally free and happy

[flynnmaynard]

I just love the part where she says "I am bored, of your apocalyptic obsessions. It's like the point in the song where she starts to get fed up of this sadness and starts to get over all of the sad and become a strong person and figure the second phase of a breakup, which is anger. She also puts all of one different stages in this song.
1. Sadness and mourning
2. Self hatred
3. anger
4. the healing period

[ivanatyushnyakova]

BJÖRK
Black Lake Lyrics

Our love was my womb but our bond has broken
My shield is gone, my protection is taken

I am one wound, my pulsating body
Suffering be

My heart is enormous lake, black with potion
I am blind, drowning in this ocean

My soul torn apart, my spirit is broken
Into the fabric of all he has woven

You fear my limitless emotions
I am bored of your apocalyptic obsessions

Did I love you too much? Devotion bent me broken
So I remained, destroyed the icon

I did it for love, I honored my feelings
You betrayed your own heart, corrupted that organ

Family was always our sacred mutual mission
Which you abandoned

You have nothing to give, your heart is hollow
I am drowned in sorrows

No hope in sight, of ember
Reckoning eternal pain and horrors

I am a glowing shining rocket
Returning home

As I enter the atmosphere
I burn off layer by layer


♥

[nickollastomaz]

This song has always meant a lot to me. It's the saddest song I have ever heard in my life and right now I see myself going through an immensely painful moment for losing a loved one to the pandemic. I knew I had to come back here and understand that sometimes we have to embrace, feel and suffer our pain instead of ignoring it. It is a necessary path to healing.

[sneekz]

'did I love you too much?'

Honestly. Full body chills. And the landscape is breathtaking. I can see why she spends most of her time there.

[jordyrain]

This is the most beautiful visual representation of emotional suffering that I’ve ever seen. I felt the darkness of the cave, the rocks, the movements, the facial expression. The seclusion, the loneliness and helplessness. This reached the depth of my soul and touched some sensitive spots, now I’m in tears. This is an amazing work of art!!

[MsKarduspandora]

This is I think the most personal and intimate song she had ever written about her personal wound. The first time listening to it my best friend and I cried. We could relate to how deep a wound can a person left you when your expectations didn't par well and how it would affect us as a person as we grow. The hundredth of times I listen to this I get goosebumps still. To me, no Bjork song fails to represent my innermost emotion and subconscious or state of mind about a personal event in my life. Every sound, every silence, every word, every beat and rhythm is there to convey sad, anger, happiness, curiosity, fear, anxiety, anticipation, ... just amazing...

[Hugo_Le_Mignon]

I'm a Björk fan since I can remember... She always brighten my soul. Her relationship with Matthew has come to an end. And that broke her in to pieces... I've suffered with a broken heart in my past. The love of my life is long gone and maried to other person. And that's why, I can understand her pain. This song made me cry. The video is so moving amd deep in real feelings. When she beats her heart... I did that too while I cried for my lost love. My heart seemed to stop. I could not feel it.... Björk, thank you for sharing this with your fans. We are with you.

[jamesdeansghost]

I have enjoyed every aspect of her metamorphosis over the course of 27 years. Beginning with her punkish eye candy Sugarcubes image to the quirky but cute Debut & Post look, on through her sultry postmodern Homogenic & Vespertine style all the while transforming into her spacey avant-garde gorgeousness of the millennium until we reach this point in time... the glowingly older classic beauty that is almost too overwhelming to behold. I would throw myself at her feet if I could...

[Stefarooh]

They say Vulnicura is Vespertine's dark twin. Where Vespertine is all about falling deeply and madly in love, Vulnicura is all about love's unraveling and undoing.

I fell in love with my then partner at the time of Vespertine's release. I was 24 and just out of college. I believed I had found the love of my life. As we lay in our "hidden place" over that dismal winter I would like to think Vespertine playing continuously in the background contributed to that love blossoming. We had 9 years of genuine happiness then 3 years where that love slowly turned into an indifference towards one another and then finally betrayal and 13 years later the curtain was drawn closed.

Funny how in 2013 Bjork and Mathew Barney's relationship also drew to a close. Maybe that is the curse of Vespertine but if I ever decide to enter another long-term relationship there is no doubt in my mind that Vespertine will be conducting its very birth once again.

This song truly had me in tears like pretty much the whole of Vulnicura. Thank you, Bjork, for the wonderful memories and the heartbreak.

[brucecolemancfo]

One of the most significant and important pieces of work she has ever done. Bjork understands human emotion better than anyone else i've ever seen before.

[zurichsee]

One of the sadest songs that I've ever listened to.
It's really hard seing her torturing herself in the night.

[robokopo]

Björk is a musical genious. There is no doubt about it.

[nashaunmingledolph]

Bjork is one of the most engaging musicians of this time. Possibly the most dynamic and emotionally enriching music of our generation. This is the depth that's lacking from the mainstream.

[ashtraybelief]

She is beating her own chest, as if she is trying to simulate a heartbeat, for there are times in life where the pain is so great that you feel like your heart might just stop beating, or it already has. It's a pain we will all be able to relate to at some point in our lives, and the way she portrayed it is beyond poetic.

[JRBracy]

Not just a song, this is an experience. She’s always an experience....

[asabovesobelow]

She's so human. Believe me, it's a rarity.