Vespertine, released in August 2001, is an album by the Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician Björk. It sees Björk creating an introverted, quiet world of swirling microbeats and personal lyrics. On the cover she can be seen wearing the swan dress (designed by Marjan Pejoski) that caused a stir at the 2001 Academy Awards.
The album was originally released both on CD and on DVD-Audio in 2-channel (48khz/24bit) and 5.1-channel (96khz/24bit) advanced resolution. It peaked at number eight in the UK Albums Chart and at number 19 in the U.S. Billboard 200. It was also nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 2002 Grammy Awards. Recently music webzine Drowned In Sound named Vespertine the number-one album of the last six years not to garner press attention.[1] Stylus Magazine placed it 36th on their 'Top 50 Albums: 2000-2005 Vespertine was also selected as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
The album was re-released in 2006 as a DualDisc including a lower-quality DTS 96/24 version of the original advanced resolution 5.1 mix. The DualDisc also formed part of the box set.
On August 22, 2008 Björk wrote an open letter on her official website expressing her anger at the fact that Valgeir Sigurðsson has over the years been credited with writing the instrumentals for the album. She explained that he had been only an engineer and programmer (and that she herself had produced every track on the album), and argued that part of the reason was to do with sexism in the music industry.