Sonar Festival - Gilles Peterson Live Set

Gilles : We just listened to Björk, and I feel really bad because I called you BjOrk and I hate doing that but thank you for coming backstage and talking to me for a little while.

Bjork : Oh thank you, thanks for inviting me.

Gilles : So tell us a bit about the show tonight, and the songs you performed, and who you performed with, you know there was the crew with a harp and Matmos, so tell us a bit about that.

Bjork : Yeah, I played with Matmos and Zeena Parkins, so I guess we’re sort of doing a tour right now and I guess we ended up picking the most quiet ones and the most sort of up ones I guess. And yeah, and I guess Matmos...
I don’t know where to start - telling you about Matmos really ! but I’ve known them now for about 5 or 6 years but we’ve been very slow... And you have to get drunk a couple of years you know and swap albums before you actually end up sitting in a studio and working together.
And I guess with Zeena Parkins, with the Vespertine project around the year 2000 I was just looking for a harp player that could play all my harp arrangements so that it was techically really good but also had a character of her own who could add quite a lot - they are hard to find. You get your people who are classical or you get people who are really "out there" free jazz/wild but with discipline they’re like "forget it" but she’s a bit of both and she’s incredible - don’t know where to stop !

Gilles : You’re really enjoying being on stage again because it’s been a while and you haven’t done that much for a bit but now you’re doing a little tour but you’ve been in Italy and you’re going to be playing here on Sonar on Friday. But is it nice to be back on stage ? I mean, do you miss it when you’re in the studio for so long.

Bjork : Yeah I guess it’s only actually 2 year since i was on stage, but it was a different project that i’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid. We were doing opera houses around the world, and there was almost more people on stage than in the crowd, we had like a 70 piece orchestra, a 20 piece choir, and all of us and we had 5 speakers put on several places in the room. Everything was very delicate and well mannered, and polite and beautiful and passive. Which was something what i’ve always wanted to do and in a way it’s the opposite of what I am. We did that for like a couple of years, and then I um [long hesitation]... had a child [laughs] and then to come back and do a full bloodied thing I was kind of looking forward to it, but I guess you have to do the opposite to appreciate it, you know.

Gilles : I have to ask you one more thing... We’re in Barcelona, it’s a fantastic festival. You’ve always worked with really progessive producers. You’ve worked with Mark Bell, Matmos, Leila. Do you feel you always have to work with these new producers - eletronic -new wizz-kids. Is it important for you to be on that sort of cutting edge ?

Bjork : Ummm... It probably looks from the outside really calculated but to be honest it’s the totally opposite. I guess I’m lucky ’cos I’m always surrounded with people who are as obsessed with music as I am. And the people like Mark Bell, I met him in ’90 but didn’t work with him until ’96 and with Matmos I’ve known them now for 5-6 years, and Leila for 10 years. So it’s not like "Oh no, now I gotta move on and meet the new..." but yeah for me Leila isn’t a new wizz-kid but always is and has been incredible you know ? But half of my tunes I write on my own, and the solitude and the sort of walking out and writing on your own, in a diary and getting serious and that. It’s amazing ! But nothing tops communication in music and for me i’m just "mushy" like that, but I believe that music is eventually about communicating. And you could do it all yourself but it’s just a bit boring - a bit self-indulgent like wanking. So why do that when you can play with people that are amazing and you can exchange ideas and create something lik neither of you would had created seperately.

Gilles : I’m so pleased to see you again, really really happy, thank you for performing for us tonight.

Bjork : Thank you, thanks Gilles !