''Country Creatures'' is a collaborative

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP) by Icelandic musician

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

; Swedish musician Karin Dreijer under their alias Fever Ray; and

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo

the Knife The Knife were a Swedish electronic music duo from Gothenburg, formed in 1999. The group consisted of siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer, who together also run their own record company, Rabid Records. They gained a large international following i ...

, consisting of Dreijer and their brother, DJ and record producer Olof Dreijer. The three remixes were initially released digitally as individual singles on 6 September 2019 followed by a limited edition 12" vinyl by

One Little Indian Records One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In t ...

released on 1 November 2019.

Background

''Country Creatures'' takes its title from the two songs remixed in the collection: "This Country" from Fever Ray's album '' Plunge'', and "Features Creatures" from Björk's ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

'', both released in 2017; one cover art of the EP combines those of both albums. In a social media post announcing the collab, Björk revealed that she chose the Fever Ray track she would remix and vice versa. On 5 September 2019, Fever Ray shared a photo on their

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

page featuring them and Björk with a countdown clock. At midnight, three separate remix singles were released, one a remix of Fever Ray's "This Country" done by Björk and two remixes of "Features Creatures", one by Fever Ray and the other by the Knife. Despite the fact that the Knife officially disbanded in 2014, ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' notes that the name is sometimes still used on remixes. Björk adds her own vocals to Fever Ray's track, and her remix is titled "This Country Makes It Hard to Fuck". It was also announced that the three remixes would be collected in a limited edition

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

called ''Country Creatures'', released by Björk's label

One Little Indian One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In t ...

on 1 November 2019.

Critical reception

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

'' noted Björk's reworking of Fever Ray's "This Country", calling it "a disturbing, dissonant industrial collage" and praised their newly added vocals as "haunting". It described Fever Ray's "Features Creatures" remix as "moody atmospherics" and noted the Knife's more

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

-oriented take on the track, and in comparing the two felt that they offered "a fascinating look at arin Dreijer'sdifferent musical palettes".

Track listing

Versions

"Features Creatures" * Album version (CD/digital) – 4:50 * Album version (vinyl) – 4:41 * Fever Ray Remix – 4:07 * The Knife Remix – 4:36 "This Country" * Album version – 3:12 * Björk Remix – 3:02

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Country Creatures 2019 albums Albums produced by Björk Fever Ray albums The Knife albums Björk albums One Little Independent Records albums