It's early in the morning; no one is awake. From the top of the mountain, the soft light of dawn comes into view. You take a deep breath, and prepare for a journey with the great genius of musical travel.
On this episode, Kirk dives into Björk's 1995 electro-pop masterpiece "Hyperballad," paying special attention to how carefully she weaves together music and lyrics to create a sense of space, and thus a feeling of travel.
Written and produced by: Björk
Co-produced by: Nellee Hooper
Album: Post (1995)
Listen/Buy: Apple Music | Amazon | Spotify
SPECIAL GUEST: ICELAND
For the visualization exercise Kirk mentions in the episode, some photos of the Icelandic countryside can be found here and here. Or really anywhere online.
----------
OUTRO SOLOIST: BJ Cord
This episode's outro soloist is BJ Cord, a fantastic trumpet player based in Portland. BJ works at Monette trumpets making some of the most beautiful horns in the world, and is a regular presence on their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monettetrumpets
KEEP IT SOCIAL
You can follow Strong Songs on Twitter @StrongSongs: http://twitter.com/strongsongs
And you can find Kirk on Twitter @Kirkhamilton and on Instagram at @Kirk_Hamilton: https://www.instagram.com/kirk_hamilton/
NEWSLETTER/MAILING LIST
Sign up for Kirk's mailing list to start getting monthly-ish newsletters with music recommendations, links, news, and extra thoughts on new Strong Songs episodes: https://kirkhamilton.substack.com/subscribe
STRONG PLAYLISTS
Kirk has condensed his Strong Songs picks into a single new list, which you can find on Spotify, Apple Music, and thanks to listener L.B., it's now on YouTube Music.
SUPPORT STRONG SONGS ON PATREON!
Thank you to all of Strong Songs's Patreon backers - you are making all of this happen. For more on how to support Strong Songs, go here: https://Patreon.com/StrongSongs
SEPTEMBER 2020 WHOLE-NOTE PATRONS
Rick Klaras
Laurie Acreman
Ken Hirsh
Jez
Jenness Gardner
Simon Cammell
Guinevere Boostrom
Jill Smith-Moore
Rachel Rakov
Narelle Horn
Mickey Clark
Nathaniel Bauernfeind
Simon Cramp
Bill Rosinger
Anne Britt
David Zahm
Erin
Aidan Coughlan
Jeanneret Manning Family Four
Matt Butler
Doug Paton
Robert Paul
R Watson
Viki Dun
Christer Lindqvist
Sami Samhuri
Craig J Covell
AccessViolation
Ryan Torvik
Merlin Mann
Glenn
CALEB ROTACH
Andre Bremer
Chad Barnard
Mark Schechter
Dave Florey
Dan Apczynski
SEPTEMBER 2020 HALF-NOTE PATRONS
Jeffrey C. Yarnell
David Friedman
Phillip Dalton
Christopher Cudnoski
Mark Edwards
Randall Browning
Sarah Sulan
Diane Hughes
Matt Beams
Niko
Kenneth Tiong
Jo Sutherland
David Catlett
Michael York
Derek Bender
Melanie Andrich
Franco Famularo
Don Hutchison
Lowell Meyer
Etele Illes
Jeff Almond
Stephen Tsoneff
Lorenz Schwarz
Becca Sample
Wen
Jack Sjogren
Aparajit Raghavan
Benedict Pennington
Geoff Golden
Robyn Fraser
Alexander Geddes
Pascal Rueger
Randy Souza
Joe C
Latifah Makuyi
Clare HOLBERTON
Jake Tinsley
Georgia Livesay
David Zucker
Diane Turner
Tom Coleman
SUELLEN MOORE
Judy Chapple
Stuart Terry
Mark Perry
Malory
Dhu Wik
Eric Helm
Jake Roberts
Briony Leo
Bill Fuller
Jonathan Daniels
Sheilah
Steven Maron
MH
Michael Flaherty
Jarrod Schindler
Zoe Little
Gerry Nelson
Albukitty
Caro Field
Wayne Marsh
Judith Stansfield
Jenifer Carr
michael bochner
Duncan
brant brantphillip
Leigh Sales
Markus Koester
Alexander
Jeremy Dawson
Gavin Doig
Sam Fenn
Tanner Morton
AJ Schuster
Jennifer Bush
David Stroud
Amanda Furlotti
Andrew Baker
Brooke Wilford
Cyrus N. White
Chris Brown
Mark Haberlen
Juan Carlos Montemayor Elosua
Kate Albury
Matt Gaskell
Elliot Jay O'Neill
Jules Bailey
Eero Wahlstedt
Darryl Stewart
Bill Thornton
Brian Amoebas
Brett Douville
Jeffrey Olson
Matt Betzel
Mueller
Nate from Kalamazoo
Melanie Stivers
Richard Toller
Alexander Polson
John and Sharon Stenglein
Tom Lauer
Forrest Chang
Earl Lozada
Jon O’Keefe
Justin McElroy
Arjun Sharma
Shane DeLeon
James Johnson
Andrew Lee
Kevin Morrell
Tom Clewer
Kevin Pennyfeather
Nicholas Schechter
Justin Liew
Emily Williams