NEWS
Björk has announced a new sound exhibition which is set to “recreate” the calls of extinct animals.
The exhibit is set to take place at Paris’ Centre Pompidou from November 20 until December 9. Titled ‘Natural Manifesto’, it will be comprised of a 3-minute 40-second piece of audio that uses AI software to recreate the sound of extinct animals and merge them with spoken word vocals.
The piece was created in collaboration with the French artist Aleph and has been supported by the sound research institute IRCAM and curated by the likes of Chloé Siganos, Delphine Le Gatt and environmentalists from France and Iceland.
Speaking about the use of the extinct animal calls, a post on Björk’s Instagram account read: “We wanted to share their presence in an architecture representing the industrial age, far away from nature. In the veins of the escalator of the museum, known as the “caterpillar,” we wanted to remind citizens of the raw vitality of endangered creatures.
“Even though you are restlessly traveling between floors whilst listening to this soundpiece, the tone of animals’ voices hopefully builds a sonic bridge towards the listeners. And in the spirit of these animals, in the magic of how they are sensually aligned with their environment, they become our teachers! Their ghosts remind us of improving our primordial mindfulness.”
The musician also shared that she and Aleph have also set up a campaign which will launch at a later date.
Björk also shared a teaser clip of the piece that sees her recite: “It is an emergency. The apocalypse has already happened and how we will act now is essential in pioneering sound-strata with mutant peacocks, bees, and lemurs biology will reassemble in new ways and micro-organisms will mate with other life-forms to heal and adapt in fruiting bodies and fields of sensory information the web of life will unfold into a world of new solutions.”
Björk has been vocal about her environmental activism in the past. Last year she released a song called ‘Oral’ with Rosalia to help fight open-pen salmon farming in her native Iceland.
Having written the song between the late ’90s and early 2000s, the single stayed unpublished until she dug it up from her archives and decided to “give it to activism”.
In an interview with NME her 2022 cover, the singer spoke about the influence of nature in the sound of her album ‘Fossora’. “There’s a lot of pleasure in the album… it’s about enjoying that space. That’s why it ended up getting this kind of ‘fungus’ theme,” she said.
“And when I say ‘fungus’, I mean more like a sound. Six bass clarinets and really fat, deep notes. It is designed for the bottom-end. You need to almost be inside all that bass. It fills the whole room. That’s the grounding of being able to stay in your house.”
She added: “‘Medulla’ and ‘Fossora’ are living in the world you’ve made. The lyrics are more about living this life day-to-day and loving it.”
Reviewing the singer’s ‘Cornucopia’ show in London in 2019, NME described it as “an audacious, expectation-disrupting spectacular from an artist unbothered with people-pleasing”.
The concert also featured a specially recorded message from climate activist Greta Thunberg.
On AHHCade, PNAU are leaning fully into emotion for their upcoming seventh studio album.
“There’s something deeply connected about music and the path we’ve been on,” PNAU’s Nick Littlemore shares while introducing the new project, which is scheduled to arrive July 31 through Sydney independent label etcetc, under the TMRW Music umbrella.
“We’re creating songs from the heart,” he says. “Even though these tracks are built with electronics and technology, at their core they are emotional expressions. Peter, myself and everyone we worked with wanted to create a feeling of home, whether that’s on the dancefloor or inside the listener’s mind.”
The upcoming record includes the recently unveiled “Tu Corazon (Your Heart)” featuring Mexican rock band The Warning, as well as the energetic new track “Nirvana” with EARTHGANG and sadMONTH, which officially dropped today, May 8.
“Nirvana” pairs PNAU with Atlanta duo EARTHGANG and also marks the first collaboration with sadMONTH, the new creative venture from Littlemore alongside Toronto artist Dom Dias.
Littlemore describes the song as “the beginning of an entirely new chapter. It’s intense, chaotic and taps into a future version of punk electronic music. Expect something restless, rhythmic and completely untamed.”
EARTHGANG added: “With ‘Nirvana,’ we locked into this euphoric and elevated energy together with PNAU and rode that electro wave. Huge love to everyone involved in bringing this track to life and making it hit the way it does.”
Representatives for the group have also hinted that additional unexpected collaborations will be revealed in the near future.
PNAU, made up of longtime friends Littlemore and Peter Mayes, are following up their 2024 release Sambanova. Over the years, the duo have built a career filled with major records and industry recognition. Their global breakthrough came after teaming up with Elton John for the 2012 remix album Good Morning to the Night, which reached No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. They later reunited with Elton for the 2021 remix Cold Heart featuring Dua Lipa, creating one of the biggest worldwide hits of the decade.
To celebrate the release of the new album, PNAU will launch the Australian run of their Nirvana Tour 2026 next month. The East Coast regional dates begin June 19 at Gilligan's in Cairns before finishing July 4 at Woodport Hotel in Erina.
Stream “Nirvana” below.
