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Hunter (Bjrk song)

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Wikipedia article


{{Infobox song

| name = Hunter

| cover = Bjrk - Hunter.png

| alt =

| border = yes

| caption = UK CD1 cover

| type = single

| artist = Bjrk

| album = Homogenic

| B-side =

* "All Is Full of Love"

* "So Broken"

* "Alarm Call"

| released = 3 June 1998

| recorded = 1997

| studio = El Cortijo (Marbella)

| venue =

| genre =

| length =

*4:12 (album version)

*3:29 (radio edit)

| label = One Little Indian

| writer = Bjrk

| producer =

| prev_title = Bachelorette

| prev_year = 1997

| next_title = Alarm Call

| next_year = 1998

| misc =

}}

"'Hunter'" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Bjrk for her third studio album 'Homogenic' (1997). The lyrics explore the pressure Bjrk felt to write music after realising the workforce that depended on her, following the success she found as a solo artist with her previous studio albums. The song was first performed at the 1997 Tibetan Freedom Concert and later included with the online promotional release of 'Homogenic'; the track was subsequently released as the third single from the album as three different CD releases in the United Kingdom in October 1998, having been released in France four months prior. A collaborative effort between Bjrk and Mark Bell, "Hunter" features a dark combination of strings and layered synths, a militaristic electronic beat, and enigmatic lyrics about the heading towards a mission.

Most music critics were enticed by "Hunter", which they declared one of the highlights of 'Homogenic'. However, the single charted poorly, peaking at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart and number 55 in France. "Hunter" was included on Bjrk's greatest hits album 'Greatest Hits' (2002), whose tracks were selected by fans through an online survey.

The accompanying music video for "Hunter" was directed by longtime collaborator Paul White of Me Company and consists of a close-up of a bald Bjrk as she transforms into a "techno-bear" while singing. Seeking to convey the music's fusion of organic and technological, the polar bear was animated in a non-naturalistic fashion; the bear also embodies the ferocious hunter the lyrics represent. The song's video garnered acclaim from critics. Bjrk has performed "Hunter" on ' Later... with Jools Holland' and on five of her tours, the most recent being the Vulnicura Tour.

Music and lyrics



The opening track of 'Homogenic', "Hunter" showcases the hybrid elements of strings and electronic backing beats through the album. It blends the live sound of the Icelandic String Octet orchestrated by Eumir Deodato, Yasuhiro Kobayashi's accordion and "stuttering computer beats and beeps" programmed by Mark Bell. Music journalist Evelyn McDonnell wrote "the production showed Bjrk's steeping in the cutting edge of electronic dance-music culture, her embrace of techno futurism, her time spent pulling all-nighters in London clubs. But the emotion was ancient, deeply human". The song has been described as "dark", "uncompromising" and "icy". According to 'Ray Gun', "Hunter" evokes an eerie terrain with rolling techno beats and strings penetrating the air like a toxic fog. Bjrk's vocals have been much celebrated in the track. They have been described as what "[ties] the whole shebang together together [...]: full of reverberating menace and trepidation on the verses, then bursting into full-throated confession, layers of her voice pitching next to each other then cascading together". 'The Wire' wrote that Bjrk's voice "oscillates between steely-edged determination and uncontained freedom".

Bjrk incorporated elements of traditional Icelandic culture. She uses the interval of the fifth throughout the song, such as in the cellos; fifths were common in Icelandic folk songs. Elements of Maurice Ravel's 'Bolro' were also noted. Ren T. A. Lysloff and Leslie C. Gay, Jr. wrote: "one of the three main sections of the whole song is the Bolero ostinato (0:00-1:36). The sounds Bjrk uses to cover the rhythmic patterns from 'Bolero' are tightly interwoven". The song features "militaristic" electronic percussion programmed by Mark Bell. Bjrk recorded the vocals, bassline and chord structure before Bell met her in Spain; after she explained how she wanted the percussion to sound, Bell recorded one take on a Roland TR-909 drum machine. Engineer Markus Dravs said: "We all had a go on the filtering and played around with the decay of each individual drum."

Bjrk sings: "If travel is searching / And home has been found / I'm not stopping / I'm going hunting". Sal Cinquemani of 'Slant Magazine' noted self-mockery towards "her own idyllic disposition" in the lyrics "I thought I could organize freedom / How Scandinavian of me!" That line was covered in various reviews; it has been described as "hilarious" and "derisively" delivered. When asked about the meaning of those lines, Bjrk replied: Some critics interpreted the line as an allusion to a failed relationship. Bjrk said: "'Hunter' is based on what my grandma told me at Christmas; about two different types of birds. One bird always had the same nest and partner all their lives. The other was always travelling and taking on different partners. At some point there was a conscious decision made to remain a hunter."

According to Bjrk, the lyrics express how she felt obliged to produce music because of the people that occupationally depended of her. The lyrics "I will bring back the goods/But don't know when" refer to her songwriting process; in her own words: "Sometimes I don't do things that people I work with do like spend time with families and lead a normal life. I have to isolate myself and put myself in a state so I will write a song." After the success Bjrk encountered as a solo artist with 'Debut' (1993) and 'Post' (1995) her most promoted album , she began to feel more pressured as she noticed how her creative output directly affected the life of those around her. In an interview with Dave Hemingway, she stated:

Release



"Hunter" was first made available for streaming prior to the release of 'Homogenic'. In early 1998, it was announced that "Alarm Call" would be released as the third single off the album, followed by "Hunter". By March, no release dates had been specified, although the production of the music video was announced. In April, plans for "Alarm Call" as the third single were suspended and "Hunter" was chosen instead. It was first released in France on 3 June. The release date of "Hunter" was confirmed to be 5 October in September. There were three different CD releases of "Hunter" in the United Kingdom, which were subsequently released via a box set in early 1999. "Hunter" was also included on Bjrk's greatest hits album 'Greatest Hits' (2002), whose track list was determined by fans through an online survey.

Critical reception



"Hunter" garnered acclaim from music critics, who complimented its elaborate production, its haunting melody and cryptic lyrics. Marvin Lin from Tiny Mix Tapes called it "painfully beautiful". Jack Dickey of Deadspin considered "Hunter" one of the only two songs in the album where "the instruments win out" and wrote it "is like 'Peter and the Wolf' if, instead of a merciful hunter, Artemis were chasing the wolf." In a review for the single release, Keir Langley of AllMusic praised the rhythm and intensity of the track as a showcase of her collaboration with Mark Bell. 'The Wire's Louise Gray thought it was an "extraordinary, mesmeric song." Also available at [http://bjork.fr/Wire-novembre-1998 bjork.fr] Evelyn McDonnell wrote "I myself had used the prevalent critical category for Bjrk uncategorizable amalgalm of styles: 'quirky.' There was nothing quirky about 'Hunter.'" She also praised the song's originality and appeal to various types of listeners. Phil Freeman included "Hunter" in his list of songs which "say something important about the state of music since 1979how venerable forms have changed;" inspired by Greil Marcus' attempt to define rock and roll in 'Stranded' (1978). He wrote "her voice is protean and capable of astonishingly raw, forceful outbursts, but it's when she holds it in, on tracks like this one, that her real power emerges." Authors Shirley R. Steinberg and Donaldo Pereira Macedo identified elements of Donna Haraway's 'A Cyborg Manifesto' in "Hunter". They state that, by assuming the position of authority in relation to the masculine other, Bjrk challenges the traditional notions of femininity; and that by "[leaving] to be the hunter," she "disrupts the nature/culture binary of which Haraway speaks."

Music video



Development



The music video for "Hunter" was directed by longtime collaborator Paul White from Me Company, the design firm that produced the artwork of 'Homogenic' and 'Post', and their respective singles. Computer animation was handled by Digital Domain. The live-action portion of the video was shot in London in 12 takes, with Bjrk performing in front of a green screen; she wore makeup to simulate baldness and tracking markers were applied to her head and face for subsequent computer graphics work. Also available at [https://web.archive.org/web/20060821183307/http://unit.bjork.com/specials/gh/SUB-10/index.htm bjork.com] A second performance was later shot with the singer's face marked up with infrared dots as a reference for animators to create convincing facial contortions, and a paper clay polar bear head was scanned next to Bjrk's head for modeling guidelines.

Both Alistair Beattie producer and member of Me Company and Bjrk have used the word "techno" to refer to the design of the polar bear. To coincide with the song's fusion of organic and technological, it was deliberately designed in a non-photorealist manner. In an interview for 'I.D.' magazine in November 1997, Beattie said:

Post-production took place in California, where Digital Domain received all data. Using Autodesk Softimage and proprietary software, they tracked Bjrk's movements from the two marker sets and then began key frame animation using Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Alias and Autodesk Softimage. By combining patch deformation and shape interpolation, the emerging bear head was created, composed of "100 maneuverable platelets that rise up through the skin." Finally, rendering was completed using Pixar's RenderMan, a holographic shader was used to make the bear skin colors change, and all the computer graphics were added to the live-action footage. According to 'The Wire', post-production work brought the costs of the video up to 250,000.

Synopsis



The video begins with a white screen followed by a fade-in of a close-up of a bald Bjrk. She passionately sings looking into the camera; as she shakes and moves her head, she begins to morph into a polar bear. Towards the end of the video, she completely transforms into the "techno-bear", before returning to her original state and the image once again fading-out to white.

Reception and analysis

The video received critical acclaim. 'Freeze Frame' deemed the video "primal" and complimented Bjrk on keeping the attention of the viewer by only showing her head and shoulders, thus comparing it to "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel. 'I.D. Magazine' praised its special effects, writing they "reach a new level of detail in [the music video]" and compared the singer's transformation to that of the title character in Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'. Louise Gray of 'The Wire' described the music video as "extraordinary" and "deeply affecting". Cultural theorist Dominic Pettman, while analyzing the "becoming-animal" theorized by Deleuze and Guattari, found that the video for "Hunter" along with the character Treadwell in Herzog's 'Grizzly Man' embodied various points these philosophers studied regarding that concept. Shirley R. Steinberg and Donaldo Pereira Macedo wrote that in the music video, Donna Haraway's metaphor of 'A Cyborg Manifesto' appears in "Bjrks embodiment of a human-animal-machine hybrid."

Evelyn McDonnell has identified bears and hunters as recurring themes in Bjrk's videos. The bear was used as a "literal symbol of strength, ferocity, self-determination and the North, a pioneering roaming spirit." Beattie has stated that as the song is about the two different states of the hunter and the gatherer, "the polar bear is the perfect symbol of the hunter state, it polarizes (ahem!) ['sic'] the difference between the two into something really extreme and magical." When asked why the video is "so stark", Beattie compared it to kans and haikus in the sense that "it tries to ask the question in the most interesting manner possible," and added that "[they] wanted the effects to be done right in front of your eyes" so that "the magic and illusion are all the more powerful." About the concept behind the video, White said:

In an interview with 'The Wire', Bjrk said that the video "[is] about the argument between hunting experiences and stopping and settling." She has also stated to 'Interview' that she identifies with polar bears because "they're very cuddly and cute and quite calm, but if they meet you they can be very strong." 'Freeze Frame' wrote:

Recognition

"Hunter" was the runner-up for the Prix PIXEL-INA Vidoclip at the 1999 Imagina festival. At the 2000 Fantasporto film festival of Porto, Portugal, Bjrk received the Audience Choice award for the music video.

Live performances



Bjrk presented the song and three more songs off the then-unreleased 'Homogenic' at the Tibetan Freedom Concert on 6 June 1997, as a sneak peek of the album. She performed with Mark Bell, who was raised at the rear of the stage surrounded by keyboards and sequencers, and with the Icelandic String Octet conducted by Eumir Deodato at one side of the stage. She wore a pink dress designed by Hussein Chalayan, which she would later wear in the video for "Bachelorette" and photoshoots. That July, Bjrk performed the whole album for a press conference and presentation concert regarding 'Homogenic' at the Old Truman Building, an old beer factory in London, wearing the same outfit. Also available at [http://nsd.dyndns.org/tempest/bjork-homogenic.html nsd.dyndns.org] During the brief Homogenic Promotional Tour, which took place from 31 August to 10 September 1997, "Hunter" was the opening track of the set. Bjrk also performed the track with the Icelandic String Octet and Mark Bell on the British TV show 'Later... with Jools Holland', a performance that was included in the 2003 DVD release of the same name.

The song was part of the set list of the Homogenic Tour which Bjrk embarked with Mark Bell and the Icelandic String Octet from late 1997 to early 1999. A performance of "Hunter" at the Cambridge Corn Exchange during the tour was included in the video release 'Live in Cambridge' (2001). Bjrk's June 1998 performance of the song in Paris was released in 'Homogenic Live', a live album of the tour included in the box set 'Live Box' (2003). "Hunter" was also performed usually as the opening track during the Greatest Hits Tour of 2003, which once again featured the Icelandic String Octet, but with the addition of Vespertine World Tour collaborators Matmos and Zeena Parkins.

"Hunter" was also performed during the Volta Tour (200708), a tour she undertook with Mark Bell, Jnas Sen, Damian Taylor, Chris Corsano and a 10 piece female brass band. Several of the concerts were part of festivals, including Coachella, Glastonbury and Rock en Seine, among others. Live performances of "Hunter" during the tour were included in the box set 'Voltac' (2009), specifically the CD 'Songs from the Volta Tour Performed Live at the Olympic Studios' and the DVD 'The Volta Tour' ("Live in Paris"). The track was also part of the set list of Bjrk's latest tour, the Biophilia Tour (201113), whose schedule featured both a residency format and a conventional stage format for the festival dates. "Hunter" was performed mainly at festival dates and outdoor facilities.

Thirty Seconds to Mars version



In 2005, American rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars covered "Hunter" and placed it as a bonus track on their second studio album, 'A Beautiful Lie'. The song was not originally a part of the album, but was recorded and added to the track listing after the album leaked several months before it was to be released. It changes the word "Scandinavian" for "American" in the line "I thought I could organize freedom/How Scandinavian of me!", and the line "You just didn't know me" was added towards the end of the song. Brian Orloff from the 'Tampa Bay Times' was impressed with the cover version, writing that Thirty Seconds to Mars erects "riveting tension" in its "almost trip-hop" rendition of the song. 'Rock Sound' magazine also responded positively to the track and described it as "an absinthe-soaked techno rendering." Kaj Roth from 'Melodic' felt that the band "really caught the spirit" of the song; however, Kirsty Krampf of 'DIY' thought it was "a criminal re-hash."

Track listings and formats



*'Digital single 1 / UK and French CD1'

#"Hunter" (Radio Edit) 3:29

#"All Is Full of Love" (In Love with: Funkstrung. Remix) 5:23

#"Hunter" (-Ziq Remix) 7:00

*'Digital single 2 / UK CD2'

#"Hunter" (Album Version) 4:12

#"Hunter" (State of Bengal Mix) 7:40

#"Hunter" (Skoths Mix) 9:11

* *Recorded at Shepherd's Bush Empire, 13 November 1997.

*'Digital single 3 / UK CD3'

#"Hunter" (Mood Swing Remix) 3:03

#"So Broken" (DJ Krust Mix) 8:13

#"Hunter" (Live)* 4:28

*'French CD2'

#"Hunter" 4:12

#"Alarm Call" (Bjeck Mix) 6:30

#"Hunter" (Skoths Mix) 9:11

Credits and personnel



Credits adapted from 'Homogenic' liner notes.

*Bjrk vocals, writer, production, keyboards

*Mark Bell - production, keyboards, programming, drum programming

*Markus Dravs - recording, programming, drum programming

*Mark "Spike" Stent - mixing

*Guy Sigsworth - keyboards, programming, clavichord, pipe organ

*Richard Brown - programming

*Marius De Vries - programming

*Howie B - programming

*Trevor Morais - electronic drumkit

*Yasuhiro "Coba" Kobayashi - accordion

*Alasdair Malloy - glass harmonica

*Eumir Deodato - transcription, orchestration and arrangement

* The Icelandic String Octet - string players

Charts





Release history



{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ Release dates and formats for "Hunter"

! scope="col"| Region

! scope="col"| Date

! scope="col"| Format(s)

! scope="col"| Label(s)

! scope="col"|

|-

! scope="row"| France

| 3 June 1998

| Two maxi CDs

|

|

|-

! scope="row" rowspan="2"| United Kingdom

| 5 October 1998

| Three maxi CDs

| rowspan="2"| One Little Indian

|

|-

| 18 January 1999

| Box set

|

|}

References



Bibliography



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