Icelandic superstar Bjork has released the cover art for her new album “Volta” (to be released on May 8th), and discusses its colorful imagery with Pitchfork Media.

The cover to Bjork's new album "Volta"

“The album cover is meant to evoke pagan femininity and, to some degree, feminism, which is a running theme throughout the music of Volta. It’s not necessarily about me as a woman, but just women. Kind of that long leap of 10,000 years back, when they [were] in harmony with nature, and just little things like the fact that there are 13 full moons in a year and most women have certain things happening to them 13 times a year, but Christianity wanted to have 12 months, just to try to put that off.”

In addition, Bjork says that she is tapping into a “shaman sort of voodoo thing” on tracks like “Earth Intruders” (the first advance single from the album), and talks about the photo shoot that lead to the cover image.

“It was a magical atmosphere in the photo shoot. It was kind of fun, because it wasn’t about me, it was about this sort of spirit of – like a woman who is kind of…into rave, no I’m just kidding. Like, a sort of celebration of that ancient, but at the same time kind of neon.”

This further cements the pagan-friendly stance that Bjork has been exhibiting for some time now. I can’t wait to hear the finished product. You’ll most likely be hearing tracks from “Volta” on my Pagan music show once I get my hands on a copy.

In related news, the amazing documentary looking at Icelandic music “Screaming Masterpiece” was released domestically last month. It features Bjork and several amazing pagan-friendly musicians, including the Sigur Ros masterpiece “Odin’s Raven Magic” (featuring rimur-singer Steindor Andersen and Icelandic Chief Godi Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson). Definitely worth checking out.

Tags: Bjork, Iceland, music, Paganism, Screaming Masterpiece