"Hunter" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Björk for her third studio album Homogenic (1997). The lyrics explore the pressure Björk felt to write music after realising the workforce that depended on her, following the success she found as a solo artist with her previous studio albums.
Björk first performed "Hunter" at the 1997 Tibetan Freedom Concert and included it with the online promotional release of Homogenic. It was released as the third single from the album as three different CD releases in the United Kingdom in October 1998, having been released in France four months prior. A collaborative effort between Björk and Mark Bell, "Hunter" features a dark combination of strings and layered synths, a militaristic electronic beat, and enigmatic lyrics about a mission.
Most music critics were enticed by "Hunter", which they declared one of the highlights of Homogenic. However, the single charted poorly, peaking at number 44 on the UK singles chart and number 55 in France. "Hunter" was included on Björk's greatest hits album Greatest Hits (2002), whose tracks were selected by fans through an online survey.
The accompanying music video for "Hunter" was directed by longtime collaborator Paul White of Me Company and consists of a close-up of a bald Björk as she transforms into a "techno-bear" while singing. Seeking to convey the music's fusion of organic and technological, the polar bear was animated in a non-naturalistic fashion; the bear also embodies the ferocious hunter the lyrics represent. The song's video garnered acclaim from critics. Björk has performed "Hunter" on Later... with Jools Holland and on five of her tours, the most recent being the Vulnicura tour.
Music and lyrics
The opening track of Homogenic, "Hunter" showcases the hybrid elements of strings and electronic backing beats through the album. It blends the live sound of the Icelandic String Octet —orchestrated by Eumir Deodato—, Yasuhiro Kobayashi's accordion and "stuttering computer beats and beeps" programmed by Mark Bell. According to Ray Gun, "Hunter" evokes an eerie terrain with rolling techno beats and strings penetrating the air like a toxic fog. Björk's vocals have been much celebrated in the track. They have been described as what "[ties] the whole shebang together together [...]: full of reverberating menace and trepidation on the verses, then bursting into full-throated confession, layers of her voice pitching next to each other then cascading together". Elements of Maurice Ravel's Boléro were also noted. René T. A. Lysloff and Leslie C. Gay, Jr. wrote: "one of the three main sections of the whole song is the Bolero ostinato (0:00-1:36). The sounds Björk uses to cover the rhythmic patterns from Bolero are tightly interwoven". Engineer Markus Dravs said: "We all had a go on the filtering and played around with the decay of each individual drum." Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine noted self-mockery towards "her own idyllic disposition" in the lyrics "I thought I could organize freedom / How Scandinavian of me!" That line was covered in various reviews; it has been described as "hilarious" and "derisively" delivered. Some critics interpreted the line as an allusion to a failed relationship. After the success Björk encountered as a solo artist with Debut (1993) and Post (1995) — her most promoted album —, she began to feel more pressured as she noticed how her creative output directly affected the life of those around her. In an interview with Dave Hemingway, she stated:
Release
"Hunter" was first made available for streaming prior to the release of Homogenic. In early 1998, it was announced that "Alarm Call" would be released as the third single off the album, followed by "Hunter". By March, no release dates had been specified, although the production of the music video was announced. In April, plans for "Alarm Call" as the third single were suspended and "Hunter" was chosen instead. It was first released in France on 3 June. which were subsequently released via a box set in early 1999.
Critical reception
"Hunter" garnered acclaim from music critics, who complimented its elaborate production, its haunting melody and cryptic lyrics. Marvin Lin from Tiny Mix Tapes called it "painfully beautiful". Jack Dickey of Deadspin considered "Hunter" one of the only two songs in the album where "the instruments win out" and wrote it "is like Peter and the Wolf if, instead of a merciful hunter, Artemis were chasing the wolf." In a review for the single release, Keir Langley of AllMusic praised the rhythm and intensity of the track as a showcase of her collaboration with Mark Bell. The Wires Louise Gray thought it was an "extraordinary, mesmeric song." Evelyn McDonnell wrote "I myself had used the prevalent critical category for Björk uncategorizable amalgalm of styles: 'quirky.' There was nothing quirky about 'Hunter.'" She also praised the song's originality and appeal to various types of listeners. Authors Shirley R. Steinberg and Donaldo Pereira Macedo identified elements of Donna Haraway's A Cyborg Manifesto in "Hunter". They state that, by assuming the position of authority in relation to the masculine other, Björk challenges the traditional notions of femininity; and that by "[leaving] to be the hunter," she "disrupts the nature/culture binary of which Haraway speaks."
Music video
Development
{| width="27%" cellpadding="5" align="right" style="font-size:85%;border-collapse:collapse; background-color:transparent; border-style:none;"
| width="20" valign=top | 10px
| align="left" |For the Hunter video we wanted something different - something fun. Because by the time Homogenic came around, she'd already been everywhere and done everything, artistically speaking. She'd gone so far over the top that we felt a minimalistic approach would be more challenging for both of us. And for me, the post-production was much more of a challenge because it took several months, whereas she wrapped up after a single day of shooting.
|-
| colspan="3" | <div style="text-align: right;">—Director Paul White about the making of the video. A second performance was later shot with the singer's face marked up with infrared dots as a reference for animators to create convincing facial contortions, and a paper clay polar bear head was scanned next to Björk's head for modeling guidelines. Shirley R. Steinberg and Donaldo Pereira Macedo wrote that in the music video, Donna Haraway's metaphor of A Cyborg Manifesto appears in "Björks embodiment of a human-animal-machine hybrid." Freeze Frame wrote: