Björk’s Visually Arresting ‘Mouth Mantra’ Video Filmed Inside Her Mouth [Video]
Fans and music critics have championed Björk’s innovative style and groundbreaking music videos for the last 30 years, and her trippy new music video for “Mouth Mantra” once again showcases the talent of a “forward looking musician” who aims to reshape the boundaries of her art while testing the limits of her audience by filming the entire video inside her mouth.
As Entertainment Weekly notes, the video was directed by Jesse Kanda — who has also produced body-morphing projects for artists like FKA twigs — and consists of warped shots of Björk’s tongue, teeth, and gums. She premiered the video on Dazed and wrote of her creative process.
“I am so extremely grateful to jesse to be up for going on this journey …. it was brave of him to take it on and I feel spoiled having witnessed him grow, making hi tech mouth models and inventing cameras all to match a little therapeutic song about the throat,” she said. “His dedication and devotion is overwhelming!!! I am especially grateful for those sassy dancefloor moments we managed to squeeze in there as well: true magic!!”
“Mouth Mantra” is the latest song from the Icelandic singer’s album, Vulnicura, which was released back in January. It’s her ninth studio album, which she produced along with Arca and The Haxan Cloak. The album was digitally released two months early due to an internet leak. It was accompanied by the Björk: Archives book and an exhibition about her career at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Despite no singles being released to promote the album, Vulnicura was critically acclaimed and considered by many to be her best effort yet.
there is a mouth mantra video & it is here & it is ready! jesse kanda wants to show you the power of vulnerability! https://t.co/S3Oo5hsSYA
— björk (@bjork) December 4, 2015
Björk has said that the album expresses her emotions before and after her breakup with artist Matthew Barney. In an interview with Pitchfork, Bjork described her breakup with Barney as “the most painful thing” she has ever experienced.
“It really is in the lyrics. I’ve never really done lyrics like this, because they’re so teenage, so simple,” she said at the time. “I wrote them really quickly. But I also spent a long time on them to get them just right. It’s so hard to talk about the subject matter; it’s impossible — I’m sorry.”
Björk and Barney were together for 13 years before they split in 2013, after he left her for a fellow artist, according to the singer herself. Barney later sued the musician for custody of their 12-year-old daughter Isadora, Page Six reported, via Us Weekly, back in April. Court documents revealed he wanted to spend more time with his daughter, describing Bjork as “effectively sacrificing Doa’s emotional well-being in favor of her own selfish desires.”
Matthew also blasted his ex for having a “self-focused mindset,” and for believing that “she has far greater rights than I do as Doa’s father; and, in part, from her insistence that I am solely to blame for the breakdown of our relationship and the end of our intact family.”
we are so humbled that rough trade selected vulnicura as their favorite out of all the albums released this year pic.twitter.com/e1PAJbie6D
— björk (@bjork) November 16, 2015
“Mouth Mantra” is the latest video from Vulnicura to have an unconventional template, with “Black Lake,” being the first. It was a 10-minute film that debuted at Björk’s MoMA installation in March.
Björk released the companion album, Vulnicura Strings, on CD and digital download back in November. It’s a darker, strings-only interpretation of the Vulnicura and features an instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci called the Viola Organista.
[Images via Twitter]
