Bjork talks pandemic, climate change ahead of LA shows

The phone rings, revealing not just a call from a new number — but one from a new country as well (at least for me).

So, I answer my first-ever call from Iceland and hear a wonderfully familiar voice greet me on the other end:

“Good morning. My name is Bjork.”

Thus begins a very cool ride of a conversation with one of the greatest pop artists of the last 30-plus years, one who got her start with the legendary avant-rockers the Sugarcubes in the mid-‘80s and went on to an even more accomplished solo career beginning with 1993’s appropriately named “Debut.”

Since then, Bjork has released eight other full-length albums, compiling a daring, far-reaching and ultimately fulfilling body of work that rivals David Bowie and Roxy Music.

To put it very bluntly, it’s absolutely absurd that this groundbreaking artist has yet to even be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But that’s a discussion for another day. On this day, the conversation focuses on the epic Cornucopia Tour, which is based on the artist’s most recent release, 2017’s “Utopia.”

Bjork performs the show Jan. 26, 29 and Feb. 1 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles before two dates in San Francisco.

Q: It’s great to finally talk with you, Bjork. We had a couple of interview dates set and then postponed earlier in the month. Sounds like you’ve been pretty busy in the studio.

A: We were trying to wrap up my album before we would go to do the concerts. Then a couple of the team got COVID, so I kind of had to juggle a lot of things that week. I’m so sorry. Thank you for your patience. But I think we kind of got back on the horse. Yeah, so it’s finishing really nicely.

Q: When will fans get to hear the new album?

A: I don’t know. It depends on the speed of publishing in 2022. It’s sort of out of my hands. But I would say summer. That’s a rough estimate.

Q: Definitely looking forward to hearing it. Moving from the future to the present, let’s talk about the Cornucopia Tour. Now, I’ve been fortunate enough to see many of your other tours — and a number of them, such as the Biophilia Tour, have been very elaborate. Yet, you’ve called this one the most elaborate to date. How so?

A: I think because we are doing like digital theaters. So, I wanted to have a lot of screens. Sort of an overload of screens — kind of like Times Square (times) 10. That was sort of the idea — like abundance.

So that was sort of, both sonically and also the visual, kind of the starting point from “Utopia,” the album. This idea of plenty.

Q: Thus the title of the tour — Cornucopia, which means to have plenty or an abundance.

A: It’s more a state of mind — if you are happy and that (is) enough. Obviously, the songs are very different – very, very different subject matter. But maybe what unites all of the songs on “Utopia” is that it is sort of about surviving after the pollution.

It’s not post-apocalyptic. I would say it’s post-ecstatic.

Q: That’s a very interesting unifying theme. Tell me more about this “Utopia.”

A: It’s sort of about finding ecstasy. I made like a sci-fi idea for a novel, where we would all go to an island and start anew and make flutes from sticks. And we might, because of a nuclear accident, have mutated into birds or birds mutated into synthesizers. But, still, we do OK.

I think it is very much about, I guess, maybe an idea of making a safe haven without violence. And maybe being exhausted how 90% of stories (set) in the future are very dystopian and with no hope.