His
embrace : a fortress
it fuels me and places
a skeleton of trust
right beneath us
bone by bone
stone by stone
If you ask yourself
patiently
and carefully:
who is it?
who is it?
WHO
IS IT that never lets you down?
who is it that gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around
now they're handing it over
they're handing it over
handing it over
WHO
IS IT that never lets you down?
who is it that gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around
now -- they're handing it over
handing it over
He
demands a closeness
we all have earned a lightness
carry my joy on the left
carry my pain on the right
If you ask yourself
now patiently
and carefully:
who is it?
WHO
IS IT that never lets you down?
who is it that gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around
and I'm handing it over
handing it over
handing
WHO
IS IT
that never lets you down?
who is it that
gave you back your crown?
and the ornaments are
they're going around
now I'm handing it over
handing it over
Performed byBjörk
and Tagaq Beats byRahzel Bass synth byBjörk Programming byValgeir Sigurdsson,
Mark Bell, Björk,
Matmos
This
is a song I wrote at the end on Vespertine, but I didn't put it
there because I felt it was from a different family - Vespertine
was introvert and shy and not very phycisal a record, and this
was a very physical song that I wrote when I was feeling quite
strong again. The words are kinda self-explanatory.
This is the
one song that Matmos helped me with - they did fruit-machine-noises
that are in the choruses. Like when you put a coin in slotmachine
and get three strawberries. So they made those noises with synthesizers
that I later imitated with my voice. So I would like to thank Matmos
very much for that input, thank you very much.
That was the first
song where Rahzel sang, and he did the beat in that song in one
take. We just all fell on the floor, we couldn't believe it. There's
no overdubs, no treatment - this is it. I felt quite proud
-- if you're gonna have a human beatboxer, at least get the real thing.
Björk, XFM 25aug04
single
photograph by Inez & Vinoodh and artwork by m/m
(paris)
The
song Who Is It was released on Medúlla,
but was in fact written and recorded four years earlier. The idea was to
have it released on Vespertine, but it turned out to not
fit into that intimate and introvert mood, so it was pocketed and brought
out in a new form for the following album.
The first version of the song was a collaboration with
Polish-born drum'n'bass DJ Bogdan Raczynski. "We
literally bumped into each other while I was playing onstage, doing vertical
jumps, trying to smash the tables and maximum raving - and apparently she was
too.", says
Bogdan in an interview in Miami Times.
A few
months later, they met up in New York and the song was born - with the working
title "Embrace Fortress" - a sharp, upbeat version where
Björk
sings to hard beats and Bogdan muses about planets and space in the interlude.
Will this version ever see the light of day? Bogdan says "I
hope it doesn't . It was a beautiful thing we did together, but for that reason
alone it should be left in the clouds. People need mystery and romance."
The song made a comeback during Björk's Vespertine tour in 2001, when she
performed it live with beats replaced by Matmos and the vocal
background of the Inuit choir from Greenland, with help of
throatsinger Tagaq, in Italy's Parma, (8 nov) and Rome (10
nov). This new version was described by fans as more "world music" and
was later on adapted to Medúlla's vocal theme with the help of beat-box
guru Rahzel,
and the song's journey came to an end when it finally got its release in 2004,
and the honours of being the first commercial single off it.
CD1 01. Who Is It – Radio edit (mp3) 02. Oceania – featuring Kelis (mp3)
CD2 01. Who Is It – c2n dattasette mix (by Lesser)
(mp3) 02. Who Is It – Fruit Machine Mix (mp3) 03. Who Is It – Bell Choir Mix (ft. the Bústaðakirkja bell choir) (mp3)
DVD 01. Who Is It – Choir Mix (mp3) 02. Mouth's Cradle – Cortejo Affro/ Ilé Aiyé Mix (mp3) 03. Who Is It – Video (Directed by Dawn Shadforth
WHO
IS IT
single release 18 october 2004
STATIC AVATARS
The tracks lead me to the portable
camp. The camp with a
kitchen and a toilet and dresser. And electricity.
smiles and sunshine is the order
of the day.
remarkable to see, the set up
in the black sands. biggest
lights I have seen.
speaking of sunshine. This is
rain, and it rained like dogs and bees
for a long time. we were warm here on 66degrees.
hey hey hey, who is it
No I will not pull down the
tent Dawn! Don't you know who
I am?
well wind accompanied the sudden downpour
In the early hours of the morning, out on the black
sands beneath
Hjörleifshöfði, I turn up. Tracking the marks in the sand
locating
the location of the video shoot.
the black sands
rehearsals of the bell choir
out in the sand. the bell choir is Salka,
Júnia, Kaktus, Daði, Örnólfur and Gabríel.
Jon Atli finding the needle on the table. Hmmm, no
hairpin on the table.
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