Lizzo, Please Play the Flute for Björk

Describing the album opener as being “kinda like Fossora’s passport,” the track makes good on her promise to deliver a darker, bass-heavy sound with a morose clarinet sextet and a sharp, throbbing beat courtesy of Gabber Modus Operandi's DJ Kasimyn. Directed by Viðar Logi, the single arrives alongside a fungi-filled visual that sees Björk and her compatriots partake in a subterranean rave.

Related | Björk Created a New Word to Name Her Next Album

Drawing inspiration from feelings of isolation during the pandemic and the gabber-filled raves she would throw in her living room, "atopos" dwells on the notion of connection and ways to foster and embrace that which binds us together. “The lyrics are inspired by what Roland Barthes described as the unclassifiable OTHER," the singer said in a tweet. She goes on to quote the song's lyrics: "Our differences are irrelevant our union is stronger than us.”

In a statement, Björk reflected on how quarantine informed the album, saying: "It was also woven into how I experienced the ‘now’… this time around 7 billion of us did it together nesting in our homes quarantining being long enough in one place that we shot down roots." The album itself takes its name from an imagined feminine form of "fossore" which means “digger, delver, ditcher.”

Usually known for her airy, spritely delivery, "atopos" might come as a stark, almost jarring departure from Björk's prior work. The song feels right at home with the cluster of collaborators like Arca, Haxan Cloak and now Gabber Modus Operandi that the Icelandic singer has brought into the fold in recent years. The single would honestly not feel out of place at a Brooklyn warehouse show and has us genuinely excited to see what else Björk's "biological techno" album has in store. Even Lizzo is down to help lend her flautist skills to the cause.

Fossora, is set to arrive toward the end of the month, September 30. Check out the official music video for "atopos" below.

Photography: Viðar Logi