he moment of Amber seeing the whale and the whale seeing her is like the cover of Bitte Orca: two beings apprehending each other from different universes. One from water and one from land. I want “Mt Wittenberg Orca” to feel like a children’s play, or sorta like an interspecies Tristan und Isolde, except with a better, less doomed ending. 15 years out, it seems like Cobain’s life was all about equating fulfillment and death in the same way that Tristan and Isolde did … not a sustainable model, really. I like the idea that neither Amber nor the whale die or combust after their moment, that instead they are left with some sort of feeling of unity, even if it is shot through with desire, confusion, hope, joy, sadness. So that lyric was just shorthand, the first thing I thought of, but I like it.

Björk & Dirty Projectors @ Housing Works Bookstore, NYC 5/8/09 - Stereogum -