Björk: 'In Iceland we don’t go to church, we go for a walk and sing at the top of our lungs’

'There’s a sacredness that comes with this landscape'

(Photo: Christopher Hooton/The Independent

Björk has shared her simple and beautiful method for clearing her head and establishing some sense of meaning, which sees her shunning attending church for simply going for a walk in an Icelandic tundra.

Perhaps the island’s most famous native, the singer talked to The Guardian about her formative years in a new interview.

“I was brought up in the suburbs of Reykjavík,” she said. “I lived next to the last block of flats, and then it was moss and tundra. I used to walk a lot on my own and sing at the top of my lungs. I think a lot of Icelandic people do this.

“You don’t go to church or a psychotherapist – you go for a walk and feel better.”

Iceland is full of vast, barren spaces where few humans dwell, and Björk would draw peace and inspiration from this.

“When I was a teenager I used to hitchhike,” she recalled, “and camp, and spend a few days on my own each year. The first money I got, when I was 13, I used to buy a tent.

“It was my ideal freedom. And I don’t think I’m alone in that ideal. There’s a sacredness that comes with this landscape."