Fossora was partially inspired by the 2018 death of Björk's mother, Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir; the songs "Sorrowful Soil" and "
Ancestress" are about her, as well as how Björk dealt with her grief. In the album's liner notes, the former is subtitled "a
eulogy for Hildur Rúna", and the latter is subtitled "an
epitaph for Hildur Rúna". The album was conceptualized during the
COVID-19 lockdowns after Björk travelled to Iceland to record. Keeping with the album's themes, its title is the ungrammatical feminine version of the
Latin word for "digger". The album features contributions from American singer
Serpentwithfeet, Björk's two children Sindri and Ísadóra, Indonesian
dance duo Gabber Modus Operandi, and
bass clarinet sextet Murmuri.[9][10][11][12] The album was also set to feature contributions from the Venezuelan producer
Arca like Björk's previous two albums Vulnicura (2015) and Utopia (2017), but due to the
pandemic, Björk was unable to visit her in
Barcelona or to welcome her at home.[13]
"Allow" is an outtake from the sessions for Utopia, that was rearranged for Fossora.[14] Per an interview with Pitchfork's Jazz Monroe, Björk says the album began as "very conceptual, like: 'This is the clarinet album!' Then halfway through, I was like, 'Fuck that.'" She described it as an "'Iceland album': often uninhibited and volatile, but also steeped in the country's choral and
folk traditions, with
strings Björk
programmed at her local coffee shop." Her interest in mushrooms "unified the record's themes of survival, death, and
ecological meditation." She frames the album in contrast to her previous Utopia, with that album being "a skybound haven after her traumatic divorce" from longtime partner
Matthew Barney and Fossora being her return to Earth. She describes the
fungus metaphor as "something that lives underground, but not tree roots. A tree root album would be quite severe and stoic, but mushrooms are
psychedelic and they pop up everywhere."[15]
The lead single, "
Atopos", along with its cover art, was announced on 24 August.[16] The release date was later confirmed for 6 September, with the song premiering on
BBC Radio 6 Music.[17] The second single, "
Ovule", was released without any prior announcement on 14 September, along with a music video directed by
Nick Knight, who had also worked on Björk's own "
Pagan Poetry" music video in 2001.[18] The third single, "Ancestress", featuring Björk's son, Sindri Eldon, was released on 22 September.[19] The title track was released as the fourth single on 27 September 2022.[20] The music video for "Sorrowful Soil" premiered on 2 December.[21] On 30 March 2023, the music video to the title track was released. Premiering at one of
Björk's Cornucopia shows in
Lisbon, Portugal, the "Victimhood" music video was not officially released until 5 September 2023, alongside an interview with the music video's director,
Gabríela Fridriksdóttir.
Fossora was released as a digisleeve CD, deluxe hardbound book CD, limited clear and silver '
spore' glitter cassette, and
double LP; a turquoise variant of the LP exclusive to her official website and record label; a green variant of the LP being exclusive to indie record stores; standard black and 4 other color variants (burgundy, lime, silver, and clear) were also available from other specific retailers.[22] A second cassette edition released with a turquoise tape shell was released in November 2022, in addition to full 2023 represses of several colour vinyl editions with the updated master audio that was finished after the first 2022 pressings had gone in to production. On 7 November 2023, on Björk's website, a Fossora boxset was announced as a pre-order (to ship later, in November 2023). This boxset includes two 10-inch records on crystal clear vinyl, with five "re-imagined" tracks from the Fossora album, a 100% silk oversized scarf, two fine art pigment prints, an "Atopos" score book, an illustrated booklet, a music notebook, a Fossora alphabet poster, and a certificate of authenticity. This boxset was priced at £200.00; roughly $245 USD.
The Fossora Remixes
On 9 December 2022, Icelandic
electronic trio Sideproject unveiled their remix of "Atopos".[23] On 20 January 2023, Irish-Scottish producer
Sega Bodega released a remix of "Ovule". The remix features vocals from English rapper and DJ
Shygirl, and Sega "exploring chill-bassdrum-gabba".[24] On 22 April 2023, the
Record Store Day, Björk released a
double A-side 12" of both remixes. The reversible two image sleeve featured Nick Knight and Viðar Logi imagery with black metallic hotfoil lettering designed by
M/M Paris and crystal-clear vinyl.[25]
Fossora was met with acclaim from critics upon its release. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 85, based on 22 reviews.[27] Aggregator
AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.9 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[26]
Concluding the review for
AllMusic, Heather Phares declared that "On this soul-nourishing tour de force, her one-of-a-kind mix of innovation and emotion is as inspiring as it's ever been over her decades-long career."[28] At Clash, David Weaver claimed that, "there is no doubt that with Fossora, Björk is restating her individuality, thematically examining her place in the world as a 56-year old musician, whilst assuredly pushing sonic boundaries from
neo-classical to
industrialnoise."[3] Paul Bridgewater shared similar sentiments in the review for The Line of Best Fit; "Fossora does indeed bang harder than any of her albums have for a long time and yet it’s not an abrasive record at heart."[32]
In a review of the album for NME, Emily MacKay declared it "An album of reinfatuation and reaffirmation, Fossora is invigorating in its drive, if there’s little of real surprise here; hard as the mushroom-
gabber beats are, if you've heard '
Pluto' or '
Mutual Core', you won't be shocked."[34]Pitchfork reviewer Jill Mapes described Björk's performance as being "grounded back on earth, searching for hope in death, mushrooms, and
matriarchy, and finding it in bass clarinet and gabber beats."[35]Will Hermes at Rolling Stone stated that "Fossora zooms in
Google Map-style, looking at people on the ground and in the room, measuring distances between them. The sonic landscape is still huge—awesome, as alien as it is familiar, full of otherworldly arrangements,
tectonic beats, and craggy melodies that conjure the terrain of her native Iceland. The artist described it as something of her 'mushroom' album, using metaphors about burrowing in the dirt. In short, it's Björk at her absolute Björkiest."[36]
Amongst the few reviewers that were more critical of the album, Slant Magazine writer Sam C. Mac wrote that, "The Icelandic iconoclast's compositional sense is as unbound as ever, her songs
amoeba-like organisms transfiguring from one second to the next across the album, in line with a logic that’s defiantly hers alone, both for better and worse."[37] Austin Saalman compared the album less favorably to Björk's oeuvre, in the review for Under the Radar; "Fossora is less engaging than Utopia, Vulnicura, and Biophilia, and except for 'Ovule', 'Ancestress', and 'Allow', cannot compete with her
1990s and early
2000s output."[38] At Paste, Max Feedman called it "a dense, challenging experiment that gradually coheres into an immersive and sometimes unsettling experience," but also noted that it wasn't without its, "occasional missteps along the way."[39]
The album's third single, "Ancestress", was named the 18th best song of 2022 by Pitchfork.[40]
Original pressings of the album credit Gabber Modus Operandi as a whole rather than Kasimyn. Streaming versions, alongside the 2023 repress of the album instead solely credit Kasimyn.
Personnel
"Atopos"
Björk – vocals, clarinet arrangement, beat, beat editing, production
Gabber Modus Operandi – beat
Baldvin Ingvar Tryggvason – clarinet
Grimur Helgason – clarinet
Helga Björg Arnardóttir – clarinet
Hilma Kristín Sveinsdóttir – clarinet
Kristín Þóra Pétursdóttir – clarinet
Rúnar Óskarsson – clarinet
Matthías Birgír Nardeau – oboe
"Ovule"
Björk – vocals, trombone and timpani arrangements, beat, production
^Fossora is officially considered to be Björk's tenth album and contrary to previous works, the album is completely produced by her. However, this is the eleventh solo album if
her self-titled 1977 album is included, or her twelfth album if her 1990 jazz album Gling-Gló with
tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar is also included.