Vespertine

Sixteen years before Björk sang of “two music nerds obsessing … sending each other mp3s,” the Icelandic producer created the first love album for the Napster age. She spent three years embroidering the “microbeats” behind Vespertine—flickering, sinewy sound beds comprising samples of domestic life—intending for it to sound good even at pirated bit rates. It was a revelation both human and technical, as Björk welcomed the world into her and her lover’s “hidden place.”