Björk composed arrangements with thin-sounding instruments, including the harp, the celesta, clavichord, strings and custom music boxes. Assisted by Matmos, Björk created "microbeats" from various commonplace sounds, such as that of shuffling cards and ice being cracked. Lyrically, the album drew inspiration from Björk's new relationship with Matthew Barney, exploring themes related to sex, intimacy, eroticism, and love. Other lyrical sources include the poetry of E. E. Cummings and British playwright Sarah Kane's Crave. The album has been noted for its erotic, intimate mood and sonic experimentation, Vespertine received universal acclaim from music critics, with some considering it Björk's best album to date.
Björk had released her previous studio album, Homogenic, in 1997. The album's style differed from her previous two releases, described by her as "very emotionally confrontational and [...] very dramatic". She also described "All Is Full of Love"—Homogenic's closing track—as the first song on Vespertine, as it opposed the rest of the album's "aggressive, macho" aesthetic. Writer and critic Mark Pytlik writes, "Her appetite for thumping techno had been, temporarily at least, subsumed by a desire for stark melodies and minimalist production".
In 2000, she starred in Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, and composed its soundtrack, Selmasongs. While she worked on the film, she also began producing her next album,
writing new music, and teaming with new collaborators. She has said "Selmasongs was the day job and Vespertine was the hobby". During this time, she also began to use her new laptop to write music, and Vespertine has been retrospectively referred to as "her laptop album"She initially set about making a record with a domestic mood featuring "everyday moods and everyday noises translating into melodies and beats", hence its working title Domestika.
Her new relationship with artist Matthew Barney, and the stress she experienced while filming Dancer in the Dark, have been referred to as the two major forces that shaped what would become Vespertine. Her relationship with Barney influenced her lyrics, which became more intimate, detailed, and revealing in contrast to her past works. As Björk had to be extroverted during the filming process, the music she wrote for Vespertine also became hushed and tranquil as a way for her to escape. In fine style, Björk had set out to write an album about making sandwiches. She'd ended up with an album about making love". A stylistic antecedent was her poem "Techno Prayer", published in Details magazine in July 1996, which would later be used as part of the lyrics of "All Neon Like". It featured thematic ideas such as cocooning and thread-weaving that she would later explore on Vespertine.
Björk has stated that she wanted the album to sound like "modern chamber music", referring to the times where "the most ideal music situation was in the home, where people would play harps for each other". She also considers Vespertine to be the opposite of her previous studio album Homogenic, the former being an introverted, quiet, winter record; the latter a loud, dramatic, summer record. Björk has also described the album as "more electronic folk music". Critics have classified Vespertine as electronica, art pop, psychedelia, ambient, folktronica, and glitch pop. Björk's performance on Vespertine has been described as that of an "art-rock torch singer".
Stylistically, Vespertine incorporates elements of both art and dance music. For example, the instrumentation of choir, strings, and harp is suggestive of Romantic art music, while the "synthesised keyboard sonorities, filtering effects and complex percussive sounds" are elements characteristic of dance-based pop. Vespertine is also characterised by "the obsession with sonic traces of analog technology – that is, the pervasive use of loops, static and white noise". Unlike her previous albums like Debut and Post, "electronic sounds are the norm, and the acoustic sounds become the interjections." Influenced by the 1999 album New Ancient Strings, a recording of kora duets by Toumani Diabaté with Ballaké Sissoko, Björk's voice was used as a supplement to "the complex electronic textures". Her vocals often appeared to be recorded close to the microphone and with little treatment, and sung in a sometimes "unstable whisper", conveying a sense of close proximity and reduced space suitable for the
The album opener "Hidden Place", featured a soprano section and strings, "over the top of a warm, intimate melody". Björk sang about "how two people can create a paradise just by uniting", as she intones: "I'm so close to tears/And so close to/Simply calling you up/And simply suggesting/We go to that hidden place". "Cocoon" was based around an exploratory bassline and beats that sound like fingertips on skin". "It's Not Up to You" has been described as a "dizzying ballad" and a song that lifts the album upward. The "caressing lyrics" of "Undo" assure that: "It's not meant to be a strife/It's not meant to be a struggle uphill". "Pagan Poetry" is a "harp-splashed" song that concerns unrequited love. The instrumental interlude "Frosti" has been described as "metallic tundra".
"Frosti" faded into "Aurora", while "a warm, faintly crunchy sound" is heard. These are samples of footsteps in the snow—the work of Matmos—re-appropriated as the song's "subtly shifting beat". "Aurora" has been described as "something that appeals to a child-like imagination", and having a "magical and airy quality". "An Echo, a Stain" is underpinned by a creeping choir line and nibbling clicks, and featured an "unresolved, ominous tension" that is atypical of her writing style. "Sun in My Mouth" was an adaptation of E. E. Cummings' poem "I will wade out/Till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers", with an emphasis on the vocal and accompaniment provided by a string orchestra, a harp, and soft electronica. "Heirloom" altered "between what sounds like a samba preset on a vintage Wurlitzer organ and skittering breakbeats, and is decorated with inverted synthtones and analog keyboards". Film director Harmony Korine wrote "Harm of Will"'s lyrics. The Slate album review noted the minimalist nature of the track, pointing out a lack of hook, beat and melody. It was a slow song, as it was the closing track, "Unison". The latter contained a refrain directly inspired by Björk's experience in Dancer in the Dark and a healthy dollop of self-effacing humor evoked to counter the balance"
The cover art, shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in Los Angeles, California, was a black and white photograph of Björk lying down on the patterned ground next to a swimming pool, covering her eyes from the sun and wearing the Marjan Pejoski swan dress that she wore at the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001,
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