Bjork Reveals New Album Cover by Out Artist

Fans of Icelandic pop marvel Bjork know her new album, Vulnicura, released digitally in January, is a devastating breakup album documenting the dissolution of her relationship with her longtime partner, American multimedia artist Matthew Barney.

Vulnicura, Bjork's ninth studio album, will be properly released in its physical form this month. Just this week Bjork revealed the album's arresting cover artwork created by her frequent collaborator, out Los Angeles multimedia artist Andrew Thomas Huang. It's a far cry from Huang's artwork that accompanied the digital drop. At once violent, sexual, furious, and beautiful, it's a more accurate portrait of the musician as she appears on this album.

In addition to guest vocals by transgender singer Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons), Bjork worked with out Venezuelan coproducer Arca to create Vulnicura's turbulent and beautiful song cycle of heartbreak. She confesses on the album that she's "broken," recalls lovemaking with Barney on "History of Touches," and asks angrily, "Did I love you too much?" on the livid, 10-minute "Black Lake," which Billboard rightfully dubbed a "Bjork diss track" and a must-hear. Yet, by album's end, on "Quicksand," the musician is standing on her own two feet again. Though she's no less angry, she's now more concerned with self-preservation and protecting the young daughter she had with Barney. The album, like much of Bjork's output throughout her four-decade career, has wowed the critics.

This week Bjork also kicks off a retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The show includes music, film, costumes, and more. Watch the trailer previewing the Huang-directed "Black Lake" video installation from that exhibit.