George Clinton joins one of the most inspired bookings of the festival season
Andy Morris

08:46 17th February 2015

Bjork has been announced as the first headliner for Wilderness 2015, alongside Ben Howard and George Clinton.

Fresh from the artistic triumph of new album Vulnicura and ahead of her MoMa retrospective in New York, it has been revealed that Bjork will be heading to Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire to headline the festival which takes place 6-9 August.


Having already confirmed a series of elaborately staged gigs in the US, we can't wait to see what everyone's favourite shape-shifting Icelander will bring to the stage.

Elsewhere on the bill announced so far is singular singer songwriter Ben Howard and funk pioneer George Clinton performing his classic album Return To The Mothership.

Other bands who have been announced include Roisin Murphy, Nick Mulvey, Nils Frahm, Caravan Palace, Hercules & Love Affair, Brandt Bauer Frick Ensemble, Benjamin Clementine and Ibibio Sound Machine.

Naturally, with Wilderness there is also an impressive food lineup including "The Return Of Angela Hartnett" (the Wilderness equivalent of Bestival's "Lily Allen presents Funlord) with tables hosted by Hix, Moro and Petersham Nurseries and chefs including Chiltern Firehouse's Nuno Mendes, Noma's James Knappett and Neil Borthwick from Merchant's Tavern.

Tickets are on sale now. For tickets and more information click here.

  • The Swan dress: Like Bowie's V&A exhibition, we hope that this celebrates Bjork's inimitable tastes and fashion - the pinnacle of which would be her iconic swan dress, as seen on the cover of Vespertine. Only Bjork could make something so mental seem elegant.

  • The robots from the 'All Is Full Of Love' video: Without a doubt, among Chris Cunningham's finest work and one of the best music videos of all time, no Bjork exhibition would be complete without life-size replicas of the intimate robots.

  • Appreciation for The Sugarcubes: There's more to Bjork than her solo output - and that should be represented. Even if she didn't go on to become a game-changing icon of a solo artist, Bjork would still be a legend for fronting The Sugarcubes. Imagine an Iceland version of The Smiths mixed with the Pixies and a lot of crazy jazz, poetry and weird sounds. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1993, she said: "The way I've been explaining the difference (between Sugarcubes and my solo work) is by comparing it to a party. You know the people who are going to be there, so you get all dressed up and maybe bring a bottle of wine or some tapes. And you go, and you have great time; and if the curtains aren't the colour you like or people are telling jokes that aren't your kind of jokes, you're not going to stand on a chair and tell everybody what to say or do. That's kind of what the Sugarcubes' music was like."

  • The 'Hunter' video in 3D: How stunning would that be, right?

  • A celebration of Bjork on film: She's no stranger to the silver screen, and that'll probably be represented properly. Probably one of the most compelling yet utterly devastating films you'll ever see, Bjork played the lead role in the brilliant Dancer In The Dark by Lars Von Trier - playing a single mother obsessed with music who is gradually going blind and fighting for her son. If you were wondering why her performance was so intense, there's a very good reason. Speaking to The New Music in 2001, she said: "The only way I could become Selma was just to leave all of me behind and slowly become her. So I sort of was her for a year or two. I know what it's like to be a single mom, I know what it's like to have a son, I know a lot of things, you know."

  • David Attenborough: Just sat in a box, talking about Bjork, nature and Biophillia, all the time. That would be pretty wonderful.

  • Some mental hats: Bjork has many.

  • Her full life-story: After just one year of classical piano lessons and an appearance on Icelandic radio, Bjork signed a record deal and released her first self-titled debut album at the age of 12 - consisting of covers translated into Icelandic plus a few originals. She used the profits to buy a new piano. We wish we were like Bjork as children.

  • An exploration of her full range of influences: She found inspiration for Medulla from heavy metal and being drunk. Bjork revealed that part of the inspiration for the largely human vocal-only arrangements came from her drunken experiments with friends, telling the Daily Telegraph: "Most death metal and all heavy metal songs are excellent a capella."

  • Mannequins recreating the true creepiness of the 'Cocoon' video *shivvers*

  • A representation of politics: As well as being a supporter of conservation and the freedom of Tibet, she's a big fan of sexual freedom. Speaking to Diva in 2004, she said: "I've always had as many powerful, creative ladies in my life as I have men, and you could probably describe some of those relationships as romantic. I think everyone's bisexual to some degree or another - it's just a question of whether or not you choose to recognise it and embrace it. Personally, I think choosing between men and women is like choosing between cake and ice cream. You'd be daft not to try both when there are so many different flavours."

  • The stories behind her artwork: Her album cover sleeves are indeed true works of art that deserve to be studied and appreciated in a gallery space.

  • The full 'Biophillia' experience: Her latest album is so all encompassing that it's been turned into an app to educate children about the beauty of the natural world - and her true imagination exploded onto the stage for her Biophillia live tour, which has recently been made into a movie. The full realisation of the album as it's translated into an experience makes an awe-inspiring spectacle. The visuals and choreography for 'Thunderbolt', 'Moon' and 'Virus' make the tracks fully immersive, while older fan favourites 'Isobel', 'Possibly Maybe' and 'Where Is The Line' are embellished to sit comfortably alongside her newer material (and they've never sounded better). Any cynics who shrugged off the album as a prententious experiment would be quickly correctly by the frenzied performance and ecstatic reception of 'Crystalline' and 'Mutual Core', which will undoubtedly go down as Bjork classics for decades to come. Even the shizophrenic jitter of 'Nattura' (heightened by the incredible drumming of Manu Delago) is treated less as a rarity and more of a celebration.