Björk releases charity single "Nattura" with Thom Yorke

Björk is many, many things, but one thing she is not is boring. The Icelandic songbird has been occupying her time recently with helping come up with a fix for the sinking economy in her native country. Eerily paralleling our own problems here in the States, the Icelandic economy has crumbled under the weight of debt and skyrocketing prices, leading to the governmental takeover of banks.

Never one to sit idly by, Björk has responded not only with a charity collaboration single called "Nattura" with Radiohead's Thom Yorke, but she's also co-founded a campaign of the same name that will collect proceeds from the song to work toward environmental sustainability. "Nattura" is available through iTunes or through her website, and is a symbolic call-to-action song directed at her countrymen. "It is now more important than ever before to emphasize a respect for nature," she said in a statement. "I believe that profits, technological advances and working together with nature can all go hand in hand. None need to be sacrificed at the expense of the others."

The singer is referring to the quick fixes the Icelandic government has proposed to boost the sagging econonmy, which include the building of more environmentally destructive factories. In a candid interview with Pitchfork, Björk said, "I don't have answers to those questions. I work more as a medium to link these people together, and asking everybody to stop this competitive whatever. My motive was I don't want more aluminum factories."

"And now my motive is a lot of other peoples' motives as well. A lot of people in Iceland are saying what we need now is support for sustainable seed companies for a lot of different reasons. A lot of people are doing it because they're bankrupt and they can't go abroad and get more loans now because nobody will loan Iceland money. So that's where it's at now."

Björk seems to have so much on her mind that she admitted a follow-up to 2007's Volta is a way off...a long way off. "Volta was very immediate, a very physical project. I knew when I was making it, I could have spent probably three more years on it and do it much better, but I just needed to be spontaneous and physical and go out," she said.

"So I think I've come around and I want to make an album now that probably will take me four years to make or three. I think it's too early to talk about the details because it will jinx it. But I know sort of what it's about. And in a funny way, it's not that unrelated to all the people I'm meeting here in Iceland. That's how things are sometimes."

Related links:
News: Radiohead's In Rainbows sells three million copies
News: All Björk, all the time: new video, compilation
Review: Björk - Volta

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